Purr
by Quierta Riddler
Summary: Levy and Gajeel are forced to meet, head on, their past selves in an attempt to save their future Fairy Tail from an unknown attacker. Rated M for detailed violence and a lemon in Chapter 21 and Chapter 43.
1. Explanations! I don't get it

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters are not mine; they belong to Hiro Mashima!_

_AN: This chapter is short, but they get longer as the story goes on.  
_

* * *

"Ehh, I still don't get it."

"GAJEEL!" Lucy slammed down onto the floor, basking in hopelessness. She'd explained it so many times already that her voice was hoarse and her vision was blurred in frustration. "It's really not that confusing..."

"It'll be a good learning experience for us," Ultear summarized, "But it's going to be very dangerous, and I don't know how well it will work. I don't think it's been done before."

"So we can only send a handful of people... preferably less," Erza closed her eyes, arms crossed firmly across her chest. "I should go."

"But we need you here, Erza!" Levy shook her head, placing small hands on the metal plates crossing the redhead's back. "What we really need to do is send a team that will work well together. The team should be balanced; someone intelligent who can solve problems on the spot, and someone with a lot of power who can take care of the physical danger!"

"So that's why we're goin'?" Gajeel asked, rubbing his head.

"Yes!" Levy smiled, "That's it!"

"I still don't get it."

"GAJEEL!"

"Hey, Lucy is plenty intelligent and you all know that I'VE GOT ALL THE POWER WE NEED!" Natsu punched his fist, glaring at Gajeel, "So Lucy, Happy and I should be the ones going!"

"DON'T GO VOLUNTEERING FOR DANGEROUS THINGS WITHOUT PEOPLES' PERMISSION!"

"Well, I don't mind you and Lucy going, but..." Levy rubbed at the back of her head, hesitating...

"But between you and Gajeel, I think you have less self control," Erza noted with a resolute nod.

"HEH! I've got control!" Gajeel beamed, pressing his forehead to Flame Brain's.

"Marginal."

"Eh?"

"I said 'less' self control. You still don't have a lot of it. So the difference is marginal."

"So what're you sayin'?"

"Oh, Gajeel," Levy shook her head and patted the Iron Dragon Slayer on his back, "Erza's just saying that you're the right one for the job."

"Oh! GIHI! I knew it!"

"Enough, brats!"

"Master!" several heads whirred around to peer at the little man balancing precariously on the second-floor railing.

"What's going on here? I left you alone for three hours, DON'T TELL ME..." the bill, where was the bill!? There had to be one, because every time he turned his back on these people they blew up ano-

"Ultear found something," Gray interrupted the man's terrifying conclusion and bunched his fists together, "We don't know if it's the best solution, or if it's the only solution, but she might be able to..."

"-send someone back in time."

* * *

_Author's Note:  
_

_I wrote this based on an idea that I have had for the past few days (long before I read chapter 302, mind!) and decided to put it here._

_I am leaving the timeline purposely ambiguous. I know that it is set in a post-games arc because I'd like to be able to include any new powers, etc., but I'm not being specific about it.  
_


	2. Still don't get it But mmk

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima; not me!_

* * *

"-send someone back in time."

"Oh... does it cost money?"

"MASTER!"

Makarov gripped the end of his staff tightly, releasing a heavy sigh. "Hmmm... there should be another way."

"But what if there isn't one?" Ultear interjected, turning her face away, "None of us knows what is happening right now, bu-"

"The consequences of meddling with time," Makarov's eyes snapped open, glaring pointedly down at Ultear, "In the manner in which you are considering, can be grave."

"Actually!" a little hand started waving up and down over the crowd, "After Ultear came and told us what she found, I went and did a little reading!"

"Of course yeh did, Shrimp!" a large hand came and patted the top of her head, ignoring her disapproving face and the swatting hands.

"See, the kind of magic is... umm, can someone get me a stool?" it was hard to speak when she couldn't see the faces of everyone that she was talking to...

"Upsie daisies!" there was a broad chuckling 'Gihi!' and a little squeak of surprise as Levy felt herself hoist right off of the ground, lifted high over Gajeel's head and perched down on his shoulder like a little parrot. "There ye'are!"

"Gajeel, put me down!"

"Yeh wan'a cracker?"

"NO!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" the loud, cracking voice of the master snapped anyone out of whatever amusement they might have felt, turning their attention onto him. "We don't have time for this!"

Levy shot an angry look at Gajeel who still looked proud at what a clever comment he'd made; that was unusual for him! But still, he got her in trouble with the master! "I'm sorry," Levy cleared her throat and shifted her bottom a little on Gajeel's shoulder, "Anyways-"

"Boney!"

The Solid Script Mage's hand grasped a lock of Gajeel's hair and gave it a firm tug to scold him for his rude comment, continuing on calmly, "The kind of magic that Ultear is talking about, it was created more for information purposes... The scientists who made it knew the risks of changing the future, so they created a kind of magic that would allow you to observe and interact with the past without changing it."

"But how is something like that possible?" Lucy asked, clearly interested. This kind of thing would make a fantastic story!

"As I understand it from what I read, the spell creates a parallel to the time period in which you go back... in one parallel, the world continues on as it actually did, and in the other parallel, you're allowed to interact with it and gain information. But as soon as you travel BACK to your original time period, the new parallel disappears, leaving the world as it was before."

"Ehh, I don't get it."

"Gajeel..." Levy sighed, "Let's think... let's think of a cup of water! Okay?" she gave Gajeel a little nudge with her foot, prompting him to put her down. She waded through the large crowd and crawled onto the counter-

"Hey! I just cleaned that!"

"I'm sorry, Mira!" Levy grabbed two glasses, entirely absorbed in her demonstration, "I'll get off in a moment!" she took two glasses, filling one of them with water. "This glass of water," she set the glass on the table, "Is the past." She grabbed another glass of water and held it in front of her. "When the spell is activated..." she set down the second glass, "This parallel is created." She took some soda and a colored juice, "You start interacting with that parallel," she added the juice and the soda, changing the colors, "And the past changes..." then she lifted the colored glass and pulled it away, "But when you deactivate the spell, the parallel vanishes, leaving only the original past!" she gestured to the original, untouched glass of water.

The only thing Levy could hear then was the sound of confusion. Yes, confusion did have a sound. There were a few coughs, some shuffling of feet, and a long, droning 'uhhhhhh' from one member who was still, desperately, considering the significance of water, and whether the second glass of water would be safe to drink.

"Ehh, I stil-"

"IT DOESN'T MATTER, Gajeel!" Levy stood up, clutching her hand into a fist, "Ultear, Gajeel and I will go. I know that we can do it, it'll be okay!"

"Master...?" Ultear turned her attention back to Makarov. These were his kids, and she wouldn't feel right in doing it against his wishes.

"I just don't wanna be getting any bills from the past!"


	3. X784? Not then NOT THEN!

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"So how is this thing gonna work?"

"Be careful with that!" Ultear frowned, snatching back a scepter from Gajeel's hands. "If these were to break, the magic wouldn't work." She held the scepter in her hands; one of two that she had discovered in the ruins of a scientific exploitation. "And if they were to break while you two were gone..."

There was an audible silence as everyone looked around to one another; the silence was almost terrifying as the implications behind Ultear's words gave them all horrid images of the little Levy and their new friend Gajeel being... well. No one wanted to think of that!

The Time Mage set the scepters down beside one another in a large case lined with a soft, plush velvet material to keep them safe. "Each of these scepters has a different purpose. This one," she gestured to the one that Gajeel had been swinging around like a bat, "Is the scepter that will represent the original past and, further, our present. This scepter ensures that neither the original past nor our present will be any different than it is at the moment in time in which it is activated. The other scepter," she pointed to the other, a bright silver piece, "Is the one that I'll use to send you back. The three of us need to hold onto it and, with my power, I'll send you back to a certain point in time."

"Wait," Erza sent a hand down onto Ultear's shoulder, gripping it tightly, "How will they be able to get back once you activate the magic?"

"Levy-san and Gajeel-kun are our nakama!" Juvia nodded, a little worriesome that the plan wasn't as simple as it seemed; it was the likely reason that she was gripping so tightly to Gray – if he accidentally got sent to the past, she would go with him! To protect him!

"Let me go!" Gray struggled, trying to pry Juvia's arms away with a tire iron even though he was also nodding resolutely.

"We haven't settled our fight left," Natsu grinned, narrowing his eyes at Gajeel, "So you two have to come back, right?"

"Right, GIHI!"

Ultear smoothed her fingers down one of the scepters, "The power can only be used if you have these, so the only one who will be able to bring you two back to the present is me." Or anyone else with time magic... but she knew no one else. "Once you two leave, you won't be able to come back until I bring you back, do you understand?"

"Then we should set a time!" Levy nodded, trying to think hard. "A week... 7 days from now, bring us back to the present. That should give us time to investigate and find what we need. But if we need more time you can always send us back, right?"

"I can send you back," Ultear frowned, "But you understand that once the parallel you were in vanishes, it won't be able to come back. So if you are sent back to the past a second time, then anything you did before you will have to redo, should you need to – do you understand?"

"That means... if we meet any new people in the past that we've never met before, we'll have to meet them again like we have never seen them..."

"Exactly."

"Right, we got it!"

"But I don't g-"

"It's okay, Gajeel," Levy patted his arm since she could hardly reach his head, "That's why I'm here. Only one of us needs to understand!"

"If you say so!"

Ultear reached into her box and retrieved the scepter reserved for sending the two back, leaving the other safely in the box. "Both of you need to hold onto this."

There was a short pause before, at the same time, both Gajeel and Levy reached for the box. They each gripped it with a hand, one over the other, giving each other a grin, "Ready!"

Ultear closed her eyes and tilted her head back, starting to mumble an incantation under her breath.

"Wait! Where are you sending us!?" Levy couldn't believe she forgot that detail!

"It can't be too far back, but it can't be too close," Ultear interrupted her own enchantment to explain, "So I am sending you back to the year X784, August."

Levy smiled with a little nod, "Right, that sounds perfect!"

"Got it! Gihi!"

As Ultear continued whispering the spell to herself, something inside Levy's head was clicking. Let's see... in October of that same year, Laxus unleashed his war on Fairy Tail... and a few months before that was when...

"ULTEAR, NO!" Levy shrieked, eyes snapping open, "NO, DON'T SEND US BA-"

"-tempus ulterium!" Ultear finished before she could stop herself. There was a bright flash of light and the small, faded images of Gajeel and Levy disappearing with the bluenette desperately screaming, "NOT THEN! NOT THEN! Not then! Not then..."

* * *

_Author's Note: _

_I wonder what's wrong with Levy! Gihi! _

_This is, by far, the longest chapter that I have written thus far; at this point I have a total of 10 (so there are 7 more waiting to be uploaded). Chapters 5 and 6 are a little short, but I try my best to leave them off at good cliffhangers that I think might make it more interesting. I'm still writing, though, as I have a general direction as to where I'd like this to go._

As to the title, as I forgot to mention, the word 'Purr' will have some significance later on. I wonder what it could be!  


If anyone has any comments, suggestions or things they'd like to see, let me know; Knowing that I have people ACTUALLY reading this is good motivation for me not to stop writing!


	4. As X784 as Possible

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"Ehh!? Shrimp, what's wrong! … Shrimp? LEVY?" Gajeel turned himself around, frowning. He couldn't smell her anywhere, even as he tilted his nose up to get a better whiff of the air around him. Stupid Time Mage, gettin' them off their mark!

"Oy! You!" Gajeel's massive hand stopped a passing man with a firm touch to the chest, "What's the year?"

"I-I... Ah! It's the year X784!"

"And the month?" Gajeel scratched his head with the opposite hand.

"August!"

"Well... at least I'm there." He grunted and released the man, narrowing his eyes, "Mmmm..." They were in Magnolia, at the least; he could recognize some of the buildings and some of the people, to a point. This probably wasn't far from Fairy Tail, but he'd never be caught dead in this end of town; the 'nice' end of town. The people there looked too well-dressed to be seen with the likes of him, and the wide girth that they afforded him made him feel more irritated than relieved, at least in this instance. It'd been a while since people treated him like that!

* * *

"Gajeel! Gajeel!" Levy turned around, looking in all directions. She didn't have a sense of smell like he did but Gajeel wasn't a hard person to spot, and if she couldn't see him right away then she could only assume that he wasn't there at all. "That's strange... but I suppose it's possible..." Ultear had never tried this kind of magic before, there was no way to predict where they would be; only WHEN they would be. Actually, Levy considered it somewhat of a miracle that they were WHEN they were in the first place.

"Levy!"

Already?! Levy wasn't expecting to see anyone from Fairy Tail for at least a day – she'd been hoping to avoid them temporarily, just to make sure that they had their bearings.

"Lu-chan!" Levy smiled, trying to look as 'X784' as possible.

"Levy-chan!" Lucy panted, having caught up, "... Are you okay?" she asked, scrutinizing her bluenette friend. Levy didn't necessarily didn't look bad, but she certainly looked... different; in a way that Lucy couldn't properly place.

"Me? Of course!" Levy smiled, waving it off with a little swish of her hands, "I feel wonderful!" Of course she looked older; Levy had been caught in the 7 year Tenrou Time lapse but even if it was just a few months, she had to look different! And...

"Where are your bandages? Are you really supposed to be out here?" Lucy frowned, "Come on, let's go to my apartment!"

"Bandages..." that's right... that's what she feared, and she was suddenly grateful that Gajeel was not there with her to see Lucy. Although, that meant that Gajeel could be anywhere, and she was sure that the Iron Dragon Slayer had no idea when they were; he probably wasn't even thinking like that! "Now that you mention it, Lu-chan, I think I should go back to my dorm!"

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"Oh, oh no," Levy shook her head with a bright smile, "I'm just going to lay down. Besides, Natsu's probably setting fire to your apartment right now!"

"Natsu? I CAN'T BELIEVE HIM!" Lucy shrieked and took off running in the direction of her apartment, screaming things about 'stupid dragons,' 'obese cats' and 'shoving him into a fireplace and using him for heat.'

"Gajeel..." Levy whispered to herself, giving a last look around. If she didn't find Gajeel fast... she didn't know what would happen.

* * *

_Author's Note: _

_Chapters 4 and 5 are a little short so I'll upload both of them today. I like that they leave off at little cliffhangers so I didn't want to combine them; so here you are! _


	5. Yeh should just run

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"There ya are!" he'd been looking for her for hours; he didn't even think to go to Fairy Tail since he figured she couldn't really be that far away and he didn't want to accidentally miss her. His perseverance finally came back to reward him when he found the little bluenette with her nose – as usual – pressed up against the glass window of what he knew to be her favorite book store.

He brought his hand down on her shoulder and turned her about to face him with a frustrated sigh, "Yeh know, you could stop lookin' at books for just a few minutes to try and find your partner!" he couldn't believe that she'd actually gotten distracted on a job like THIS!

"..."

"... Shrimp? What's that face for? And, EH!? Why d'ya look like that!?" her head was all wrapped up in bandages and there were little scuff marks from her neck, disappearing well beneath her shirt.

The worst of all was her expression. Her face was twisted into a look of horror and disbelief. No, Natsu had destroyed this man! He wouldn't dare come back! Why was he here of all places!? And he was back for more; didn't he already have enough!?

"Ehh... ahh, no," Gajeel immediately retracted his hand and shook his head, holding his palms out defensively like he was trying to calm down a frightened animal, "I didn't mean ta spook yah, it's just... ahh!" he backed away, eyes darting from side to side. "Just don't look at me like that, don't be givin' me that face!"

He couldn't stand that face; it was exactly the same as he remembered it. At the time that he'd attacked Team Shadow Gear he'd done his absolute best to make her face as pained and agonized as possible; it was like a special, internal trophy that he'd given himself when he decided to attack the most vulnerable, unsuspecting team he could find. They just made themselves so _easy_ to find, too. They didn't even have the sense to run and, back then, he thought he should bump them down to where their places belonged; several feet beneath his shoes, lower than the gum stuck to the bottoms.

The only other time he'd seen a similar face was on Tenrou Island, just before he intercepted a blow aimed at cutting the shrimp in two. The problem now, though, was that he couldn't very well protect Levy from himself! At least not in any heroic sense.

"S-..."

"Eh?" Gajeel shook his head, snapping out of his internal musings, "Whatcha say?"

"S-... So-..."

"... S'that?"

"SOLID SCRIPT:... FIRE!" she screamed, holding her hands out in front of her.

Gajeel supposed, afterward, that he could have easily dodged it; but because she was scared and, he assumed, unable to believe that he was a Gajeel-turned-good from 9 years into the future (since he even thought it sounded crazy), he let the blazing fire explode onto his body, sending him sprawling back several yards down the street.

He exaggerated his reaction (given that the fire felt little more than a minor shock), grunting in pain and gasping for air. He heaved his chest in and out, making himself a little dizzy as he pretended to be out of breath. After all, the Gajeel of this time period had just finished his fight with Natsu so he should be tired and worn out, right?

"Sh-shrimp!" he sputtered, watching her with a half-lidded eye.

"Haa... haa..." Levy was panting, but turned on her heel to dash off towards Fairy Tail. She needed to warn everyone that he was back! If he tried to attack the guild again, especially now, then they wouldn't have any defenses; the hall was still being put back together!

Gajeel watched her, making no attempts to retrieve her or try to explain. She wouldn't believe it. The shrimp was a forgiving, kind girl, but it would take more than just a few days to turn her around.

"That's right..." Gajeel stood up, brushing himself off, "Yeh should just run from me."


	6. I'm so sorry!

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

Was that...? Yes, it was! Levy gasped, quickly ducking behind a ruined wall when she saw her younger self run by, looking frantic. She was heading in the direction of Fairy Tail, nursing a sore leg that offered just a little hop to her run. Her expression was a mix between urgent and resolved, and just a little worried. That must mean...

She had to find him! She had to find Gajeel! He must have already met the Levy of the past and if she knew her Fairy Tail friends, they rarely set off without a companion.

* * *

"Gajeel!"

"Eh...?"

"GAJEEL!" He was alone. Thank goodness he was alone! Whatever people had been on the street had long-since evaded the dragon slayer, and she had a good idea why. The Phantom guild had made quite a showing several days ago and Levy would be hard-pressed to find a person who didn't know Gajeel's face. On her way to finding the Iron Dragon she'd almost run into several more of her guild members, and the fear was rising that he may have found more than just her past self.

Levy knew that Gajeel could take care of himself if he did have a confrontation with Fairy Tail again, but she didn't want to press their luck and make something like that happen. He had gotten along so well with his nakama in the past several months now and she didn't want to damage his view of them, even if it was just their past selves. Gajeel had already repaid for what he'd done, and she didn't want the memories of his past to rekindle that hatred in him.

"Gajeel!"

He'd switched to a narrower, less busy street in the hopes of not intercepting anyone else from Fairy Tail. He understood now; he understood why it was that the shrimp didn't want to be brought back to this time. Judging by the way that other shrimp had looked, it must only have been a few days since he – or his past self – attacked them and left the guild to rot.

Gajeel turned, eyes narrowing at the little bluenette who barreled towards him with a cloud of dust behind her. He was suspicious, standing still and staring at the little mage until she launched herself at him and threw her arms around his waist, giving him a tight hug.

"Guess that means yer my shrimp, then!" he grinned finally, holding a hand on the back of her head and pressing it into the thick mass of his chest. He wasn't sure if the other one had come back with more Fairy Tail members, looking for a fight, or if this was the older shrimp! The one that only wanted to kill him when he insulted her height, her weight or her child-likeness!

"I'm really sorry, Gajeel," she ignored his patronizing tone and patting, clenching her eyes shut, "I should have asked Ultear where we were going before it was too late to send us. I have to do this alone; you can't come with me now."

"And I thought ya were supposed to be the smart one here, Shrimp!"

"What do you mean?" she frowned, pulling her head away to frown up at him, daring him to challenge her intelligence – just ONE more time!

"We came here to do a job together, and I wouldn't be much of an S-Class mage if I gave up just because I was afraid of bein' attacked!"

"But you're NOT an S-"

"I know that," he pulled away from her and gave her shoulder a light shove, "The point is, I promised ya that I'd make ya big, and just because it didn't work the first time it don't mean that I can't do it this time! So it doesn't matter to me what the Fairy Tail of the past does or thinks of me, cus I got this here," he twisted his arm around and pointed to a little mark on his upper left bicep.

"Yeah..." Levy gave him a smile, "Yeah, that's right." In a way she was feeling relieved, because she didn't really want to have to do it alone. Levy always had Team Shadow Gear with her – she wasn't used to doing big missions alone and, knowing what she had to do to discover this information, it would be better with a partner. Maybe Gajeel and Levy weren't completely used to working with each other yet, but their relationship had grown, at the least, to meld them together enough for this.

"And besides," he pulled away, giving a cursory glance around the area, "Since this is when I think it is," being just three days after his attack, "That means that somewhere around here is an ornery Iron Dragon Slayer just lookin' for somethin' to beat..."

* * *

_Author's Note: _

_This one was short so I made it a little longer before uploading. We should be getting more into the actiony parts of things in the next few chapters. At this point I have written 15 and 16 is partially done, so there are definitely some big things happening, AND longer chapters since the scenes had no good cut-off point! _

_- Levina: I'm sorry, I write my chapters ahead of time so I didn't have a chance to add the author's note and answer your question. Also, I thought I had made it obvious by chapter 5 but in case I didn't, they were sent back a few days after Gajeel attacked Fairy Tail. That's why Levy was afraid of him ;D _


	7. Teddy!

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"Levy!" a voice called out, watching with worried eyes as the bluenette came barreling through the doors. Mira set down her glass immediately and walked around the counter, waving down a few brawling people to get their attention; after what had happened it was important that everyone be on their highest guard!

"Levy-chan what happened!" Lucy caught the girl with open arms, pulling her into herself and letting the wounded girl pant, cough and lean on her friend. After Lucy had gone back to her apartment (and, in fact, DID find Natsu in there, although he had thankfully not set it on fire), she'd decided to take him back to the guild for lunch. That had been several hours ago since she'd left Levy, definitely not enough time for the bluenette to have laid down like she claimed she would!

"G-Gajeel," Levy coughed, gripping Lucy's shoulders and trying to pull away. She'd already been beaten by him once, she needed to show some strength for the guild that had helped her through her pain! "Gajeel is b-back! I just saw him in the town, he came up to me and-"

"And he attacked you!" Jet accused, still leaning on a crutch.

"He beat you down again!" Droy fumed, hobbling out of his seat.

"He... ahh..." Levy frowned a little; actually, Gajeel hadn't really done anything, had he? "No, I beat him..." because that was true – she'd hit him with a Flame spell and he went right down. It was a little odd... "But he came up to me and started talking to me; I don't even remember what he said, but w-"

"We need to be prepared for anything," the aura around Erza's body turned black and hot, almost like Natsu when he was really 'fired up.' "Phantom Guild is no more but that doesn't mean that we don't have enemies in the people that were once members. Fairy Tail hasn't yet healed, our Hall nor our members, and we can not allow anything like that to happen again so soon after the first time."

"That's right!" several people agreed – quite noisily – and threw their fists up, ready for a fight.

"I'm all fired up!"

"Levy-chan..." while the rest of the guild was enraged, going so far as to beat each OTHER up in an attempt to use up their pent energies, Lucy pulled Levy over and looked her up and down. "Why are you in those bandages?"

"What?" Levy asked, "Lucy..." Lucy knew what happened; what Gajeel did to her!

"Well I know WHY you need them but I saw you earlier today and you weren't wearing any!"

"Lu-chan," Levy frowned, shaking her head, "I haven't seen you at all today!"

* * *

"Mmm... mhh..."

"Stop makin' noises like that!" Gajeel frowned, peaking one eye open to look down at her. With her head plastered against his chest and her hands wrapped around his body, each clutching a shoulder blade, those kinds of noises were out of order!

"I'm sorry," she yawned, blowing hot air down his arm and turning her head to face the other way, "But we can't do anything... not until we figure out what to do about Fairy Tail. If we go outside and someone sees us-"

"Then we'll be fighting our own nakama," he completed, opening the other eye so he could stare up at the ceiling, "I get it. But Flame Brain can smell me, ya know."

"That's true... but I think we're far enough away. Erza used to be a lot more strict back then, I don't think she'd let Natsu or anyone else go looking for trouble, she'll probably make them wait for you to go and attack them first."

He winced; that was true. He couldn't say much about what Erza used to be like, but in the past he would have been the one to make the first move. If Natsu hadn't given him as smart a beating as he had, he probably would have sought out Fairy Tail and made their lives hell for the sake of itself.

"We should just stay here for tonight," Levy yawned again, starting to roll off of him and lay down at his side. He followed her, throwing a wide, heavy arm over her body and pulling her tight against himself like a stuffed animal. "Stop that!"

"Eh?" she didn't usually have a problem with him getting handsy! At least within the past few months or so...

"I know what you're thinking, and I'm nothing like a stuffed animal!"

"But ya know, if ya say 'Levy' real fast it kinda sounds like 'Teddy-HOUUF!" his eyes crossed and he turned his back to her, tucking his knees up against his chest and blowing hot air against his legs.

"Oops!" Levy smiled, "I guess I underestimated the strength of my own cuddling... GIHI!"

* * *

_Author's Note:_

_In my fiction, I am assuming that Levy and Gajeel are already together. Basically, this isn't the story of how they got together, it's just the story of events that transpire while they ARE together. I think there are plenty of stories of how GaLe came to be! They are still in the beginning of their relationship (as you'll find out), but I just wanted to clear that up in case there was any confusion. _

_You might have also noticed that I changed the rating to M for now. I've changed it since I think it'll be a safer rating for now; adult material in the future (several chapters ahead) and some fight scenes!  
_

_I'd also like to apologize for my short chapters - I realize that long chapters are better but if I had to force myself to write longer chapters, then I'd never end up writing ANY. It's better for me (and therefore for you!) that I keep to writing short scenes that way I don't overwhelm myself and have to stop. Hopefully this is remedied by the fact that I update every day! _


	8. Solid Script: Paddle!

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

Levy ducked her head down just in time to miss an iron blow; she could feel it on her hair, blowing around a few tendrils that poked up after having slept on it all night. "Stop throwing a tantrum!" she ordered, taking a quick step back to avoid a weak, tired kick from her dragon slayer. "Honestly! You're being such a baby!"

"Not all of us can be morning people, runt," he grunted, wrapping his head in the sheet to block out the morning sun.

Levy grabbed the other end of the sheet and gave it a hard tug. She expected it to fling off of him, but the hold that he had was much too tight and she ended up tearing the sheet right in half, exposing his legs. "... That's not funny."

He was already laughing, muffled by the pillow that he'd pressed his face into. He could hear the rip and he could feel that his lower half was just a little drafty, so he hoisted himself up onto his knees with his face against the bed and started waving his bottom from side to side in front of her face.

"SOLID SCRIPT: PADDLE!"

Gajeel released a howl of surprise and dove off of the bed; it wasn't a real spell, of course, but he didn't want to take any kinds of chances. He hit the floor with a roll, righting himself into his best 'you ain't paddlin' me' pose.

"One of these days I'm going to turn that into a REAL spell!" Levy nodded, hands on her hips, "And then you'll get up when I tell you to get up!"

"Ya know if you really want a paddle-"

"That's enough!" Levy pressed an angry fingertip against his mouth. "We've wasted enough time already. We only have a week here... now it's only 6 days, if Ultear is going to count yesterday as a day." It wasn't a full day, but there were so many unclear things surrounding this whole ordeal! For example, if Levy and Gajeel got wounded in this past, would they still be wounded when Ultear brought them back...?

The look on Levy's face told Gajeel that she'd started thinking about things, and having Levy think about things – or READ about things – always ended up taking a lot more time than fighting with one another. "Alright, Shrimp," he reached for her, grabbing her and tucking her under his arm like a piece of furniture, "Let's get goin'!"

"WAIT!" Levy started kicking, beating her hands against his belly.

Well, now he REALLY wasn't going to set her down! It was so cute! "Gihi!" he grinned and started bouncing her up and down to jostle her a little, like poking an angry cat.

"We can't just LEAVE," Levy grabbed onto his arm for support, "We need to disguise you somehow..."

"Flame Brain." Gajeel knew that Natsu could smell him from a mile away, no matter what he was disguised as.

"I know about that, but can't we hide your smell, too? You know, cover yourself in perfume or someth-"

"NO WAY! I ain't wearin' that sissy stuff! Besides, you don't understand how it works – I could swim in an ocean of cat piss and he'd still be able to sniff me out. I'd still smell like me. I'd just smell like me and... piss."

"Gajeeeelll..." did he really have to talk about that kind of nasty thing?

"Disguises won't work."

"Okay, but we're not guaranteed to run into Natsu... you'll still have to hide yourself from anyone else that we see; the other members of Fairy Tail will react pretty badly to seeing you, too." Levy started to think, stroking her chin in thought. "I can go shopping and find something for you to wear..."

"No! Nope," Gajeel finally righted her, setting her back down on her feet, "I ain't lettin' you go shoppin' for disguises without me there!" he didn't trust her sense of judgment.

"Trust me!"

"And why should I trust you!?" he shouted, bending down to her level. She was going to get him a bunny suit or something!

"Because I trust you... Gajeel," her face scrunched up, staring back at his gaze.

… It made a lot of sense, though. She had trusted him even when no one else would, despite what he did to her, her team, and what he'd tried to do to the rest of her guild-family. And she still trusted him, although it was true that they'd had over a year of friendship between them by this point. He straightened himself, folding his arms over his chest, "...Yeah. Be careful, Shrimp."

"I will," she hugged him tightly even though he didn't unfold his arms, giving him a little smile. "And, really – trust me! It'll be okay!"


	9. Disguises, Disguises!

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

___Author's Note: This chapter was a little short, so I am releasing it at the same time as chapter 8. Make sure you don't miss chapter 8!_

* * *

"I'm back!" Levy shouldered open the door, stumbling into the room with an arm full of bags, and more than one hat box.

"It's about ti- EHHH!?" Gajeel threw his hands up, eyes going wide. "I thought ya said I could trust ya!"

"You CAN!" Levy set her purchases down on the little table in their hotel room, slapping his hand away when he tried to inspect one of the bags. "You don't know what I bought! I didn't really hold back, though. Since Ultear said that everything that we do here will go back to normal after we're gone, I used a really big portion of my bank account." She could still remember her old accounts and pin numbers, thankfully.

Levy crossed the room to their mini fridge, bending low to inspect the contents. Last night they'd only had time to buy a few things, so if Gajeel got into his disguise then they could go out for a nice breakfast... "Gajeel, since we don't have to worry about money, maybe we should go out for something really extravagant... You know, buy some of that fancy metal for yourself?" she waited for a response, but nothing came. That was unusual; Gajeel usually erupted at the thought of the fancy stuff! "Gajeel?" she frowned and straightened, turning around to face him, "Gaj-"

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS SUPPOSTA BE FOR!?" he looked horrified, holding up a black thong, stretching it in front of his face between each of his pointer fingers. "I thought ya said I could trust ya!" he shrieked, grabbing another piece of black, lacy fabric and waving it around, "What's this for!? Ya think I can get this thing around ANY PART OF ME!?"

The Solid Script Mage's face turned red, lips pressed together and cheeks puffed out like she was trying to scream, but trying not to make any noise. Her little fists, clenched at her sides, started to tremble as her body hopped up and down like a stalled rocket, "GAJEEL!"

"Eh!?"

"That's NOT yours!" she snatched up her panties and the little black dress, stuffing them back in the bags. "I bought some things for me, too!"

"This isn't a SHOPPING trip!" he slammed his fist against his forehead with a loud thump; women!

"It's not for pleasure!" Levy frowned, "We are here on a job, yes. We need to find whoever it is that's attacking Fairy Tail in our present, and I have a feeling that we won't find them in Magnolia. We'll need to go a little farther, and if we're going to do this right then we need to go to a place where they have information."

"Information?" Gajeel frowned, arms crossed tightly over his chest.

"You know. Those kinds of places."

A sudden, impish grin spread across Gajeel's face and he grabbed her, lifting her up off of the floor, "Oh, NOW yer thinkin' like an S-Class mage!"

"Stop that!" Levy shoved against his chest, "Stop getting ahead of yourself!" it wasn't that she didn't want to be an S-Class mage... but she didn't want to focus on things that weren't important at the moment.

"So, eh, what'dja get me?" he asked, setting her down and grabbing one of the unopened bags. "Ughhmm," he grunted, shuffling his hands through some of the items.

"And this one," Levy handed him the last bag, letting him look through it. The look on his face was pleasing enough; yes, he was right to trust her!

"Ahh... ahh, now THAT'S the kind of thing I'm talking about! GIHI!"


	10. Nicknames!

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"See? It's not so bad, right?" Levy asked, holding her hands together as she tilted her body to see Gajeel's expression as he watched himself in the mirror.

"Nah, it's not bad!" he turned around like a model, raising his arms up over his head, "It's all a little tight, though..."

"You're a big man, Gajeel! And I think a part of the problem is that you wear really... flashy things." Maybe not flashy in color, but the feathers!? And the puffy pants, and the thick boots... "If we really want to keep attention away from us then you'll need to wear something that doesn't make you look even bigger... and bulkier."

"Yeh try'na say that ya don't like my regular clothes?"

"I didn't say that!" she puffed, folding her arms across her chest and turning her head angrily away.

"Heh, whatever you say, Shrimp!" the outfit really wasn't that bad. She'd focused on the color black, still, which was just fine with him. In color it wasn't all that different; the shirt was tight, short-sleeved and black, but otherwise unadorned. The pants were white and, while not skin-tight, certainly weren't as puffy as the ones that he liked to wear. They were just wide enough to fit over his boots, letting only his feet show as opposed to the whole, tall boot.

The problem was his face. He frowned, holding onto his own chin and turning his face around, "This is all well enough but wha'da we do about my face?" they couldn't cover something like that up, and he wasn't changing his piercings or... ADDING things!

"We'll start with THIS!" Levy extracted a beanie hat from one of the hat boxes and hopped up onto the bed so she could reach him.

"I ain't puttin' that on!"

"Gajeel!" she reached for his hair, grabbing the mane like a horse's reins and tugged him back as he tried to run away. "It's either this, or we cut your hair off."

The dragon slayer was strangely obedient after that, hugging his chest like a mumbling, angry toddler trying to verbally express his lack of appreciation to a scolding mother. He let Levy stuff his hair up into the cap, binding it tightly enough to, hopefully, hide how much of it there was. His face was still the same but since the hat let only a few little pieces poke through the front like bangs, it helped to shield his main features, at least a little. It was astounding what a difference hair could make! Even though his face was still visible, he looked almost like a different person. The hat and his new outfit made him look almost _smaller_, and Levy supposed that, maybe, Gajeel dressed the way he usually did because he WANTED to look imposing.

"We done?" he grunted with a frown, hearing little feet hop off of the bed and dash away to rummage through one of the other bags, "Ahh, what now..."

"There!" Levy popped a pair of wide sunglasses over his face. "Cool!"

"Cool?"

"That's how you look... cool."

"Right..."

There was a short silence, during which time Levy stared up at Gajeel, mouth open, eyes searching his face.

"... Mm?" Gajeel pressed, moving down closer to her face like he was expecting her to say something.

"... Haaa..." she whispered just a little, head tilting to the side, tongue reaching out to lick her lips.

The dragon slayer's ear twitched, eyes giving a little flash. He reached down to close the distance, feeling her breath warm the inside of his mouth a-

"TERRANCE!"

"EH!?" Gajeel jumped back, looking around the room. "Who the hell is that!?"

"That's YOU!"

"Me!?"

"We need a name for you!" Levy smiled, "I can't call you Gajeel out in public, so I'll call you Terrance!" she smiled, feeling as though she'd found quite a suitable name for CamoGajeel.

Gajeel reached for her shoulders, gripping her little arms and hoisting her right off of the floor, "Stupid... freakin' WOMAN!" he shouted, teeth gnashing together. He was panting, chest heaving. He could still feel her breath in his mouth, taste it...

"What's wrong!?" she frowned, not bothering to squirm around in his hands.

"Ehhh... nevermind," he set her back down, reaching to scratch his head but forgetting about the hat, "But if ya get to call me Terrance, I want a nickname for ya!"

"But I'm not going out in disguise," Levy corrected, shaking her head. "Besides... YOU CALL ME NICKNAMES ALL THE TIME!"

"Gihi!"

* * *

_Author's Note:_

_For Gajeel's disguise, I'm imagining something like Hamrio Musica from Mashima's Rave Master. I've always really liked Musica's style and I imagine he and Gajeel would get along, so I thought it fitting to have his disguise be something around the same lines as that!_

_Further, after this chapter the heat is really on. I just finished chapter 21, aka the lemon chapter. Are you excited yet? _


	11. Is this what they look like?

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"Is this... really what one of these places looks like?"

Everything was... rich. There were deep reds and full, brown colors mixed with royal purple. The carpet was plush under her feet, making her little heels sink into the floor. The tables were painted black but she could tell by the sounds they made when people set down their drinks that they were thick, heavy tables made of a high-quality wood.

The night started off on a rather good note; with Gajeel disguised and herself dolled up for her plan, they'd set off towards their destination. The fact that they hadn't run into any other Fairy Tail members was, she thought, a very good omen. Yes, good things were supposed to happen tonight and they were meant to do this. What she saw when she actually got there, though, was a little more discomforting than what she'd originally thought. She had prepared herself to see a rowdy group of tough men with scars, poor language and a short fuse. She had effectively imagined a hundred Gajeels piled into the same room, sharing information through their fists. For the place to, instead, be refined and akin to a quiet restaurant, already she was starting to feel shaken. What if she was wrong about other things, too?

Gajeel could feel Levy tense under his hand where he held her, fingers wrapped around her little waist. "What'dja expect, shorty?"

"Not this," she whispered, keeping her voice low and looking around. It was a bit cleaner than she thought it would be, and the people looked a good deal more... refined. Black ties, hair pinned up in fancy spirals, and body glitter just for a nice touch. None of them would blend into the high society without giving it a good effort, but they weren't the masses of bumbling, screaming, fighting people she thought they'd be.

"This ain't so unusual," Gajeel gave her a firm nudge, trying to push them further into the room, wading between tables and overstuffed chairs, "The people who collect information ain't the big type. Can't defend themselves." Sort of like Levy herself! That meant, though, that places that dealt with information needed to be controlled; no one got in who might injure one of the information officers.

Glancing around a little more, Levy realized it was true. The walls were lined with mirrors but, she assumed, they were really one-sided windows – on the other side were hoards of guards ready to pounce if one of their officers was mistreated.

"The underworld ain't so bad in these parts," Gajeel shook his head, "People take care of their Brains."

"Right..." these people were the Brains. If anything was happening above ground, they would know about it for the right price. In this world, though, Gajeel and Levy had nothing to lose – this world was a copy and they could give away any worldly possessions without truly losing anything.

"There's our guy," Gajeel mumbled, turning her with his hand to approach a small area in the far back. Four chairs surrounded a circular table, low to the ground. A candelabra in the center flickered orange light around the circle, illuminating the thin legs of a figure sitting in one of the chairs.

The entire room, several meters wide and long, was full of similar arrangements. Each had a table and each had 4 chairs; one chair was reserved for the Brain and the other three for the clients. Only three clients were allowed to see the Brain at one time for security purposes, and to prevent the Brain from being overloaded with questions.

"Mm," Gajeel grunted, stopping her just before they reached the tables. He bent low to whisper in her ear, closely enough to brush his lips against her lobe, "I think you should do a lotta the talkin'... y'think ya can? I've dealt with this guy before and I don't want'im recognizin' my voice." He was in his disguise, but there was no hiding that deep, vibrating voice that Gajeel had.

Levy swallowed hard but nodded, plastering on the confident face that she'd been practicing earlier with Gajeel. If she was really going to do this then she needed to look fearless; Brains respected people who respected themselves. "I can do this, Gajeel."

The dragon slayer smirked and raised himself back up, pressing his hand to her back again. He helped her into a chair, holding a dainty hand until he pulled away to take his own seat just beside hers. A certain level of manners was expected between the clients and the Brains, and if he showed how careful he was with his woman then he'd seem less threatening to the Brains.

There was a long, awkward silence wherein Gajeel glanced sideways at Levy, who was staring at the dark form of the Brain. She couldn't recognize his face given that it was shrouded in darkness, but then, since both Gajeel and Levy were illuminated by the same candles, they were also in that darkness. Gajeel, with his superior vision, saw the hesitant expression on her face and crossed his hand over to grab hers, giving it a little squeeze.

Levy jumped just a little when his hand touched hers, remembering suddenly where she was and what she was supposed to do. That's right... they had a job to get done. She took a deep breath and sat up a little straighter, pulling her hand away from Gajeel; she didn't want to have to lean on him. Not today.

"My partner and I are hoping that you can relay some information to us... This is very much a last resort to us, and we hate to take up your time, but if it's possible-"

"What is it?" the Brain asked, voice sounding thick and slick. It was almost oily in her ears! "If you really don't want to take up my time, then you should just ask what it is that you came here to ask."

Levy's mouth dropped open a little, but then closed it and frowned. She was used to people being blunt and rude like that thanks to Gajeel, so she just nodded, cleared her throat, and started to explain the situation.

"Several members in our guild have died."

_Author's Note: _

* * *

_Oh mmyyy... _

_Also, when I first wrote this chapter I forgot that 'Brain' was the name of an actual character from Fairy Tail. I just wanted to clarify that Brain from Fairy Tail and 'the Brains' from my fiction are two totally different things. In my fiction, 'Brain' is more of a title or a job. It's sort of like 'Receptionist' or 'Bodyguard' or 'Supervisor,' it's just the name of their position in the intelligence field. _

_So, 'Brain' or 'the Brain' isn't actually the man's name. I wanted to clarify that in case people got confused! I kind of like using Brain as a position so I decided not to change it. _


	12. I am a brain

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"I see. Can you explain more?"

Levy's brow wrinkled as she thought of how to properly explain it to him, "Yes, hmm... To say that they are dead might not be correct, but at the moment that's how it seems. They are unresponsive but our healer tells us that their bodies aren't decaying... and that means that they can not be dead. It's different from comatose, but-"

"You want to know what the cause of this is?" to the point. He wanted to get to the point of it.

"Yes. Well... yes, and no. The reason that we are here is because we have a feeling that what is happening in-"

Gajeel's fist clenched tightly around her hand. Later she'd scold him for almost breaking it, but when she realized why he'd done that she decided to forgive him. For now.

It was important not to let on who they were and where they were from; she didn't want to tell this person that they were from the future unless it was absolutely necessary.

"... What is happening in our guild is tied to some... third party."

"I see."

Levy could see the person shift as he raised his hands and placed his fingertips together calmly, seeming to study her from the shroud of darkness in which he sat. She expected him to continue on, to say something, but instead he forced them to sit through another minute of silence before leaning forward just enough to catch a few flickering shadows on his cheeks.

"Will you tell me what this guild is?"

Levy opened her mouth to speak, forming her mouth into an 'F;' she waited to see if Gajeel was going to stop her, but when his hand remained limp she continued, "Fai-"

"I see," the man interrupted. Could he really get 'Fairy Tail' just from what she said? "What you want to know... is who has a grudge against your guild. Who has been keeping it hidden from you, who has the motivation and the means to attack your members."

"That is correct."

"What you are asking requires a large price... you are asking me to uncover others with whom I have worked-"

"So you DO know who it is!" Levy shouted, reaching forward to slam her hands on the table.

Gajeel was quick in snatching her back, pulling her into his chair with him and holding his arms firmly around her waist. "Shrimp," he growled low in her ear, eyes narrowing and flicking over to the mirror just beside their table.

That's right... they were being watched. If Levy had another outburst like that then they might think that she meant to cause the Brain harm.

"Please forgive me," she whispered, face red with embarrassment and shame, "I didn't mean to... to-"

"It's fine," the figure sat casually in his chair, back in his original relaxed position. "But you are jumping to conclusions. The only person who would do something like that to your guild is a person with connections to the underground... and because I and my colleagues have dealt with most of the underground, it's probably that I know just who it is. And for you to ask me to uncover one of those people, you understand why it would require such a high price."

"The price is of no question to us!" Levy affirmed, nodding her head. "We will do anything, pay anything." They had nothing to lose. This world was a copy and they wouldn't really be giving up anything of value.

"The problem is," the man's voice got suddenly lower. Where before it had been easy, languid and oily, it sounded thick and throaty, "That there is actually nothing that you can give to us."

"I know that we don't look like much," Levy sat up a little straighter where she was perched on Gajeel's lap, "But we both have a lot of jewels to our names, and anyone from our guild can pitch in. Between the lot of us, we can find anything it is that you want. Or is it information that you want...?"

"There is no information that you can give to us that we can actually use."

"Then, je-"

"There is no amount of money that you can give us that we can actually use."

"Then what do you want?" Levy's voice was getting tense, starting to feel emotional. Thinking of her poor family members back at the guild, laying out in those beds. She was doing her best to save them but she was helpless now – if this person didn't give her the information that she wanted, she wasn't quite sure where they could turn next!

"Did you think," he placed his hands on his knees and stood up slowly, sending the lower half of his body into the light while keeping his upper half high above them, looking down at the two in their chair, "That I wouldn't know 'when' you are from?"

"... 'When' we are from?" Levy turned to look at Gajeel with a worried face, trying to look confused. In her chest, a burrowing pit of fire started brewing, eating her from the inside out with fear. Did he really know!?

"How many years into the past have you gone, to get to this point in time?"

"That's ridiculous! I really don't know what you're talking about."

"I know what I'm talking about. I am..." he leaned forward just enough for them to see the light dancing off of his white, glistening grin, "A Brain."


	13. Why dontcha tell us?

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"So..."

The Brain raised his hand up to stop Levy from speaking, "Please, no more talking from you for now. I don't need to hear things that I already know." Neither mage could see the man, but they had the feeling that he was looking rather smug after having said that. "The purpose of this establishment is to trade and bargain for information. Something as big as this... you couldn't possibly have believed that we wouldn't know about its existence."

Levy stole a look around the room, looking cautious.

"Don't worry," he continued, "Information is valuable and we don't give it to those who don't ask for it. Haven't you noticed...?"

He paused to let the silence sink in. Levy hadn't noticed before this point, but she couldn't hear a single one of the other people in the room talking. It wasn't completely full – perhaps half of the stations had been filled, but she couldn't hear the voices of either the clients or the Brains.

"Once you step into this room, the only things you can hear are sounds in your own station. After all, we wouldn't want you stealing information that doesn't belong to you." It made sense, though. Especially with someone like Gajeel who could hear things at a much more sensitive level than she could, he could steal all of the information that everyone else was getting if there wasn't some form of magic to stop it.

"Now then," the man cleared his throat and shifted to the side, resting his head on his fist, "How have you been, Gajeel?"

The dragon slayer sneered, seeming to relax a little now that he didn't have to try too hard to disguise himself. "Been doin' just fine."

"I can see that," there was a low chuckle and a little shift. Levy felt eyes on her, and Gajeel's grip tightened as he settled her down between his legs to flush her back against his chest. "Don't worry, she really doesn't interest me. But it surprises me that she interests you. A lot of things must have changed in the past... how many years has it been?"

"Information ain't free," Gajeel cooed, mocking him, "I ain't tellin' you when we're from."

"Does it really matter?" the man sat up a little more, leaning forward just enough to let them see his smirk, "After you return, this dimension is just going to disappear, meaning it won't really make a difference either way..."

"But I ain't gonna give you the satisfaction," the dragon grinned. "Anyways, what's it gonna take for us to get this stuff outta you?"

"I don't see why I should bother. I can't get anything out of this." The Brain repositioned himself as though he was getting ready to leave.

"Wait!" Levy spoke up finally, stretching her hand out, "Maybe you don't get anything out of this, but you don't really LOSE anything, either."

He stood up fully, brushing her hand away, "That's not how this kind of place works. Gajeel, I'm surprised at you – you should have taught your little trinket more before bringing her to a place like this."

"First of all," Gajeel's voice was low, rumbling so deeply into Levy's ears that she could almost feel her own voice rumbling, "Ya don't call my girl a 'trinket.' Second, she brought me here herself," he leaned over her, crooning towards the man that he could see perfectly in the darkness. He looked a little worried, and it made Gajeel's eyes flash a brighter red. "Third-"

"We have a plan B!" Levy squeaked, hands bunched up so cutely by her sides. "Gajeel!"

"Gihi!" he straightened himself, fists turning into iron as scales started covering his body. "We shoulda just done this from the beginnin'!"

"Let me stop you there," the Brain calmly lifted a hand, "You're not threatening anyone here."

"Huh?"

"You're forgetting... this is a parallel world. Whatever you destroy, whomever you wound, torture or kill, none of it exists in the real world and when you two return it'll all be erased. So you can make no threats here."

Levy could hear a deep grinding sound and looked up to see Gajeel gnashing his teeth together. Damn, the bastard was right!

"Whatever happens here... it won't affect the real world..." Levy whispered, looking sunken. "That's..."

"That's our ticket," Gajeel's eyes narrowed, looking devilish. He lifted Levy and turned to place her behind him, setting her back down on the chair. His threat would look a little less menacing with the tiny woman standing in front of him like she was. "Maybe I can't hurt ya here," Gajeel reached forward and grabbed the man by the cuff of his shirt, bringing him up to his face, "But I can hurt ya in the real world. If ya don't tell us what we wanna know, when we go back I'm gonna come for ya. And since this world don't exist, ya won't even know it's comin'. Ya won't expect a thing. So, what's been happenin' to my guild?"


	14. Just a little handsy

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"I think you're getting a little smarter!" Levy complimented, holding her arms tightly around his left forearm, walking beside him back to their hotel room.

"Nah, gihi! I've always been good at threatening people!" he regretted it when he said it, because he could see the look on her face shift.

If Levy had been that Brain, she'd have given in, too. The security tried to intercept Gajeel in the end but, as the Brain reasoned, there was nothing they could do against the Iron Dragon. Maybe if they had expected him they'd have had a chance but, with the Second Origin unlocked, he knew that Gajeel and Levy would be a little too much. It was good for them that he even knew about the Second Origin, then!

"Ehh, I can't help what I am."

"I know," Levy smiled, hugging his arm a little more tightly, "I like you the way you are." But that didn't mean she liked to think about Gajeel being like 'that.' The terrifying, horrible man that he used to be, Levy liked to think that the man was gone. He was still in there somewhere, just a little more discriminate when it came to the people that he showed it to. Levy never feared for herself around Gajeel, but she could still fear for his soul – it couldn't be good for a person to disregard the feelings of others in the way that he did sometimes!

"Whelp!" he stopped, collecting Levy up into his arms like a little doll as he climbed the steps to their second floor hotel room, "What're we gonna do now? We got what we came for and we still got 5 days to go."

"I think I overestimated how much time it would take for us to finish things up here..." she leaned down to unlock and push open the door so he could carry her in. "There are still things that we can do, but I don't want to take any further action until we let everyone else know what we came up with." The others still needed to be in the loop! "For now, we should probably just lay low."

They'd collected the information that they came for, but there were still dangers out there; Fairy Tail was on their behinds, and it might be in their best interest just to hide out until they were called back by Ultear.

"I like that plan," Gajeel mumbled, and Levy felt him lower her down, setting her against their bed. "Especially that 'lay' part... and the 'low' part ain't so bad either," he smirked, crawling on top of her and playfully crushing her with his weight.

"You know, I'd rather be tiny than fat," Levy stuck her tongue out, scrunching up her face.

"I ain't fat! It's all muscle," he lifted himself onto all fours, dipping his head low to sniff her neck and feel her breath on his face.

"Gajeel..." Levy twitched, and raised a hand to hold the back of his neck, "Gajeel... now?" she asked, voice barely a whisper; which was just fine for his ears.

"Not if ya don't wanna, Shrimp," every muscle in his body tensed as he growled low, fingers digging holes in the mattress as he grabbed it in frustration. Holding himself back was torturous, and he wondered if the shrimp didn't do it sometimes on purpose just to see him squirm.

"I don't really think... I'm ready for that..." she breathed, coating his neck with her breath.

Her poor dragon flopped onto his side, nearly knocking her off of the bed as the springs bounced hard under his weight. "Now yer just teasin' me..."

Levy sat up, holding her arms over her chest, "Do you really think like that...?"

He popped an eye open, peering up at her, "Nah. I toldja... I ain't gonna rush ya."

"Thanks, Gajeel," the bluenette bent down and kissed his nose before crawling off the bed and disappeared to get into her pajamas.

He was gonna kill the woman one'a these days! He was doing his best not to scare her or force her into anything she didn't want; he'd already done a lifetime of that to her the first time he met her. But it was hard. Very hard, especially given that she'd already agreed to sleep in his bed and let him handle her whenever he wanted; with his hands. Restricting him to just his hands was probably more cruel than not allowing him to touch her at all!

His thoughts poofed away when he felt the bed sink beside him, and her scent hit his nose all the more clearly as she crawled up against him. "Yeh ready to sleep?"

"Mmm..." she just grunted and turned her back on him, getting into position with her back pressed against his chest and her head just under his chin.

"S'wrong?" he asked, taking her by the chin and tilting her head back. Shrimp only gave those kinds of responses when she was reading, and she didn't have any books on her now!

"I keep thinking about what the Brain said back there."

"He said a lotta things."

"That thing about us dying... If we die in here, then we'll die for good. This hotel, all of these people, they're all copies – but we're not copies. So if anything happens to us here, when Ultear brings us back we won't go back to the way that we were. Isn't that scary?" Gajeel was going to comment, but he could tell that she wasn't done so he let her continue. "Imagine if something did happen, and Ultear brought us back... none of our friends would ever know what happened to us. They would never get the chance to know-"

He had to cut her off there, offering a grunt and a sigh of disapproval, "Yer assumin' that I'm gonna let anything happen to ya, Shrimp. We were sent here cus you're the smart one and I'm the muscle, so just let the muscle do his job!"

"Gajeel..."

"But ya know, I might be a little more motivated to protect ya if I knew I was gonna get som-"

"Good night, Gajeel," Levy huffed, knocking him out with a Solid Script: Dreams stamp to the forehead.

* * *

_Author's Note:_

_At this point I wanted to thank kurisu313, piranha pk, HeirToTheShadows and the rest of my readers for reviewing and reading my story! I don't always wrote author's notes but I DO read all of my reviews as soon as I get them - I check all day for them! It really motivates me to continue and not stop writing, so thank you!_

_Also, piranha made a piece of fanart that I thought was wonderful. It goes along with the events in Chapter 12 and you can find it if you check out my profile. I can't link it in here so I linked to it in my profile!_


	15. GET OFF!

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"But it's been DAYS, Erza!" Natsu complained, hopping onto a table and throwing his fist into the air, "How do you expect us to just sit here when he's out there!?"

"Whatever happened must never be allowed to happen again," Erza closed her eyes, looking down, "But that does not mean that we need to go looking for a fight. We don't know what business Gajeel had here; why he sought out Levy."

"Maybe..." Levy twisted her hands together, "Maybe I was wrong. Maybe he wasn't really looking for me. He might have just come across me on the street!"

"But didn't you say that he seemed to want to talk to you?" Lucy asked. Based on what Levy had told her several days ago, it sounded like Gajeel approached her because he'd been looking for her for a long time! "And he called you... partners?"

Levy hadn't told that much to the rest of the guild; there was an audible gasp and Levy turned red, shaking her head. "That was days ago! I might have been wrong; Gajeel is a really big man and I think I might have just been scared!"

"You don't have anything to fear, Levy!" Droy sat beside her, reaching for her arm.

"We're both here to protect you!" Jet confirmed, "We won't let anything like that happen again!"

Levy sighed – the two of them hadn't let her out of their sight all week, even though they had also been beaten by the dragon slayer. They had healed a great deal I that time but because of their wounds they hadn't been able to increase their strength; if Gajeel really came back to attack the guild, then they wouldn't be able to do much more than watch and wait for their nakama.

"Natsu, have you smelled him?" Erza asked, looking up at the Fire Dragon Slayer.

"No," he tilted his nose up and took a deep sniff, "But I haven't been lookin'... CUS YOU WON'T LET ME!"

"Well," she took a look around the guild, "Since this has everyone on edge, maybe we should spread our boundaries a little farther. We need to find out what Gajeel wants. But remember, fighting is only a last resort," the objective was to find out what he wanted.

There was a loud cheering from everywhere in the guild, pounding their fists up and shouting for joy at finally being allowed to go and find the bastard! Someone crashed the guild doors wide open so the rest of the members could thunder through, escaping into the night where they could more easily sneak up on the man who tried to hurt one of their more vulnerable nakama.

* * *

No matter how they slept, they somehow always ended up in this position. He was halfway on top of her, one leg draped across her thighs like he was trying to shield her from something in his sleep. His torso leaned up against hers, squashing her against the mattress with her head just underneath his chin, and her arms under her head like a pillow... since Gajeel always managed to steal theirs.

She always woke up when he did, because the first thing he did every morning when he (willingly) woke up was yawn low in his throat; the sound vibrated throughout her entire body, as loud and dragon-like as it was. Her eyes popped open and she tilted her head up to smile at him, noticing that the covers were all over the floor – just like they always were.

Levy let them oversleep since it was their last day there. The past several days had been very uneventful for them since Levy refused to let them leave the apartment for anything other than food. They had the information that they needed and there was nothing that they could do with that information in this world. Further, because of Levy's fear that Fairy Tail would find Gajeel and mistake his presence as a threat, he obliged her concerns and agreed to stay inside. Stupid woman.

"Mmhh," Gajeel grunted through clenched teeth, rolling back a little to give her the room to breathe. "Ehh, what time is it," he rolled to his back and threw his arm over his face to hide the light.

"It's noon," she giggled, sitting up and looking at the clock. She'd already woken up 5 times before, being more of a morning person, but staying in bed with a sleeping dragon turned out not to be so bad.

"Is that so," he crooned, reaching for her and tugging him on top of him. "We leavin' yet?"

"I don't know," she looked around like she expected something to happen. "I don't know what time Ultear will bring us back."

"Maybe we still have... a little time," he sneered and threw her down beside him, flipping himself on top of her. His legs straddled her waist, arms framing her head as he bent down and hovered his mouth over her cheeks, letting her feel his breath.

"Ga-..." she gasped, half-closing her eyes and looking up at him, "Gajeel..." her mouth opened, letting her tongue peek out to lick her lips for him.

"There's a good Shrimp," he cooed, lips covering over hers, mouth parting to wrap his teeth around her bottom lip. He gave her a bite and tugged her lip back towards him, watching the way her eyes wavered. He could smell the change in her chemistry, having long-since realized that he could flick the woman's switch just by toying with her mouth.

He noticed that her legs had spread a little wider since they'd first laid down, and that her arms were slowly raising up over her head, thrusting her little chest up towards him. The woman drove him mad; it was hard enough trying to hold himself back without her suggestively throwing herself at him. He knew, though, that it was just her body that wanted him – the mind was still trying to reconcile with the changes that would happen between them, and until he could have both her mind and her body he supposed he'd have to keep a chain on his cravings. Or a hundred chains.

"Ahhh," he breathed against her mouth, eyes turning a deep red as he demanded her silently to stare back at his face.

"Ga-... jeel..." Levy whispered, feeling the little indents that he made in her lip when he bit her. She noticed his nostrils flaring and it sent her cheeks into a heavy blush, knowing that he was smelling her. Every time he did this to her she came closer to just allowing him to properly take her, but she wanted to make sure that, whenever it happened, it was meant to happen. He would have to wait just a little while longer.

"Yer my girl," he crooned in her ear, dipping his head down to blow against her lobe and capture it in between his teeth for little tugs.

The woman's scent was so strong that he really didn't stand a chance; he couldn't stop it when it happened or predict it before it happened. Neither of them were in a position to realize what was going on until it was just a little bit too late.

"GET... OFF... OF... HER!"

* * *

_Author's Note: _

_As (SOMEONE) asked in the reviews, I DID write a lemon for this. It's in Chapter 21 (if you were wondering), and since I release one chapter a day, that means it'll be here in a few days! To be specific, the lemon is... about three pages long XD Not ALL of it is lemon (that would be silly) but hopefully the chapter is long enough for everyone to forgive me for short chapters! _

_My apologies again to everyone (including kurisu313_) for writing chapters that are relatively short. Just like with my roleplaying, the shorter my posts (chapters) the longer I'll be interested in writing. It's my way of ensuring that I don't get tired of writing this and have to stop. I made the decision, though, that if I end up finishing the story before all of the chapters are released, I'll start updating twice a day instead of just once. I just want to make sure that I have plenty of chapters on deck so I don't stress myself out; I don't want writing to become a chore!

_Just a "FYI" update, I've currently written 23 chapters of this just ready to be released, so you have that many at least to look forward to =D_


	16. KARYU NO KENKAKU!

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"GET... OFF... OF... HER!"

Gajeel had no idea what happened. All that he knew was that now he was outside, covered in splinters and debris, and in front of him was a hotel with at least 5 smashed walls. "Eh!?" Shrimp!

"Wait! GAJEEL! Everyone please, wait!"

He could hear her voice, shouting for him through the holes in the walls. The voice was getting smaller, though, farther away; someone was taking her away!

"Damn!" he growled, punching the ground before he ran forward, back through the smashed walls and into what used to be their room. It took him just a second to feel the heat on his face and sense the aura of anger creeping unto his skin. "Ahh, no..."

"Don't you ever touch my nakama like that!" Natsu growled, fists flaming. Gajeel couldn't even see his face, completely shadowed by his hair as he dipped his head low, "I guess I didn't beat'cha enough last time! But don't worry, I'M ALL FIRED UP NOW! ROHHH!" Natsu charged, placing all of his passion into a flaming punch aimed for the other dragon's face.

Gajeel sunk his feet into the floor, raising his arms up. He caught Natsu's flaming fists in his hands and held him in place, chest heaving as he tried to contain his future peer's strength, "Calm yerself down, Flame Brain!" behind Natsu he could see the figures of Lucy and Happy tugging Levy away, not knowing that they had the wrong girl. "Shrimp! LEVY!"

"GAJEEL!" Levy reached out for him, trying to get Lucy and Happy to listen, "Guys, please wait!"

Lucy held a firm grip on her friend's arms, shaking her head incredulously, "Levy-chan! What's the matter?" did he take something from her that she still needed to get back? Her clothes were still on and so were his, so they had, luckily, managed to get there before he could do anything to her.

"You don't understand," Levy started to cry, feeling frustrated. She couldn't fight her friends like this, and after what they caught Gajeel doing she knew they'd have a harder time explaining what was going on to.

"Shrimp! Shri-"

"ROHH!" Natsu sent his knee up, catching Gajeel under his chin. The other slayer flew back into several more walls with Natsu flying after him, ready for more.

"Ehh that's it," Gajeel wiped his mouth off, rolling the kinks out of his shoulders, "I ain't playin' nice with a copy!" he charged forward, raising his arms over his head, "Tetsuryūkon!" he growled, forming clubs with his arms and swinging them at Natsu. One of them connected, launching the Fire Dragon Slayer nearly 50 yards away.

"Gajeel WAIT!" Levy shook her head. With Natsu trying to catch his footing, it was up to Lucy and Happy to hold off Gajeel, so she took the chance to speak with him while Lucy fumbled with her keys. "Gajeel, I'm going to go back with Lucy, okay? Please don't hurt Natsu!"

"Why not!?" he growled, arms turning back into fists, "He's just a COPY!"

"Please..." tears formed in Levy's eyes, shaking her head. They were all copies but... that didn't mean that she wanted to see anything happen to her nakama. If Gajeel injured the copy Natsu then she wasn't sure how she'd look at her dragon from then on.

Gajeel's eyes turned dark, seeming to think about it for a few moments. How was he supposed to fend off the Flame Brain without hurting him? Gah, the woman was insane! "Fine," he consented finally, thrusting his fist out and punching Tauros away almost as soon as Lucy could summon him, "I won't touch 'im." Much.

"Thank you... Gajeel..." Levy smiled and backed away, letting a very confused, very worried Lucy and Happy tug her away to the guild. She wished Gajeel would be careful, and that he didn't forget how much more powerful he was than Natsu. Back when he was a member of Phantom he was on par with Natsu, able to make the Fire Dragon really fight for his win. The new Gajeel had unlocked his Second Origin, though, meaning their difference in power would be a lot greater... if Gajeel wasn't being careful, he could do some real damage.

She knew what she was doing, though; if the rest of the guild could see that there were two Levy's, it would help to explain what was going on.

"Natsu is going to take care of it," Lucy assured Levy, holding her friend tightly and dragging her away. "Don't feel like you have to fight him, everything is going to be okay, Levy-chan!" She didn't know why Levy was trying so hard to fight against her and Happy. No one expected Levy to fight in the state that she was in! But, look at her! Bless her heart she wanted to go back and help Natsu beat the Iron Dragon Slayer; as wounded as she was!

"And if Natsu can't stop him, Lucy can just sit on him and he'll never be able to get up!" Happy giggled into his hands, trying to lighten the mood. Also Lucy was fat.

"THAT'S NOT FUNNY!" the blonde shrieked, looking just about ready to pound her foot into the cat's head.

"Right..." Levy didn't look so amused. She was very worried about Gajeel, and about Natsu. She didn't want to see either of her nakama in a bruised, battered state – even if one of them was a copy!

"... Say... Levy..." Lucy frowned, giving her a look-over again, "Where did your bandages go?"

The past Levy had already removed some of the bandages, even if there were a few left. It was like deja vu! Now Levy didn't have her bandages again!? This time, though, Lucy KNEW that Levy hadn't taken the off the last time she saw her.

"... I think I'd just like to go back to the guild." Levy felt sick to her stomach; this was going to be very hard to explain to her roused nakama...

* * *

"Now I don't have to hold back..."

"Eh?" Gajeel turned towards the voice to see Natsu, body entirely consumed with fire.

"My nakama are gone... now I don't have to hold back." He didn't have to worry about his fire accidentally hitting Levy, Lucy or Happy. "KARYŪ NO KENKAKU!"

"TETSURYŪSŌ KISHIN!"

* * *

_Author's Note:_

_This chapter was only around 700w long, so I added a little more to it. The chapters that I have been writing lately have been over 1,000w long and I think if I write less than that, now, it'll be more of a let-down! _

_I couldn't combine this one with the next chapter, though, because it's a pretty big one... and it has a doozy of a cliffhanger. _


	17. I took care of it!

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"TWO LEVY'S!?"

Jet and Droy had their tongues on the floor, staring at each of their little blue-haired crushes. It was like a dream come true! No more fighting! No more trying their best to woo her and worrying about the well-being of the other man, because now there was one for each of them!

"Guys, please..." the past Levy sighed with a red face and a light scowl, "Don't bring this up again." She already turned each of them down before, and she didn't think that the other 'her' would think any differently!

"But I still don't understand," Lucy shook her head, standing in front of both of them. "So the Levy that I saw the other day..."

"That was me!" the future Levy smiled, looking a little sheepish, "I'm really sorry that I acted so weirdly. I was trying not to let you know who I am and why I'm here."

"Tell us one more time?" Mira asked, having abandoned her counter duties to come around with the rest of her guild.

Levy was forced to hesitate at this – if she told them what had happened, she knew that her nakama would be unsettled. Even if this world was just a copy, they'd try to find some way to prevent what had happened and change the future. Even if it was an impossibility, Fairy Tail would attempt it.

"I... I don't really..." Levy rubbed her arms, looking down, "Please forgive me for not telling you, but it's really important for the future that I don't." Hopefully her nakama understood! "And," she tried to get them off of the subject, "It's also very important that I find Gajeel!"

"THAT'S the most confusing part," Gray crossed his arms, "And I don't know if I want to believe what you say about Gajeel being 'good,' or a real member of our guild."

"Are you saying this could be a trap?" Erza asked, legs crossed, having planted herself between each of the Levy's. "I don't think we should dismiss the possibility, unfortunately."

Levy couldn't blame any of them, even if it left her at a loss as to how she was meant to convince them that Gajeel and Fairy Tail had reconciled their differences. Back at the time, Levy wouldn't have put it past Gajeel to trick them, even if this did seem like too an intelligent facade to pull. "Jet..." she hesitated a little, smiling up at her friend.

"What is it, Levy?" Jet and Droy were more readily believing that this was their friend; they couldn't mistake that sweet smile!

"Did that scar ever go away? The one... from that 'one' mission?"

Jet turned red; that was a PRIVATE scar! The past Levy had one hand pressed against her mouth, trying not to laugh. It was a little surreal, but she believed that this new Levy was what she said she was!

What else did Levy know that no one else would? Living at Fairy Hills did have its benefits, and she thanked Erza for making them all comfortable enough to share a shower with one another – even if Juvia did bring them all down sometimes with her shyness.

"Lu-chan, I wanted to confess that I read that little short story that you wrote... the one that you asked me not to. You know, the one about," she leaned forward and whispered low into Lucy's ear, making the latter girl blush, tear up, look around the room and then run out of the guild. Probably to go burn the book.

"And Erza..."

"Okay," Erza stood up, one arm wrapped tightly around the future Levy's mouth to silence her, "This is, indeed, the real Levy. And that means-"

"Gajeel!" Levy tore her mouth away from Erza, "Gajeel's fighting Natsu right now, we really need to stop them!"

"That's not going to be so easy," Erza released Levy, letting her sit back down on her chair beside the other Levy. "It was hard to convince us," she glanced around at her peers, "And I am sure that some of us are still not convinced."

Jet and Droy were shifting closer to Levy by the minute as though they intended to protect her. How could everyone believe that Gajeel could be good? They didn't see his face... they didn't see the look in his eyes when he attacked them, when they beat and bruised Levy and branded her with the mark of their guild!

Even the past Levy looked uncomfortable, shifting and holding herself tightly in a self-embrace. Sometimes she dreamed about Gajeel's eyes when she slept, and to think that the man could be nice... She already met him, though, didn't she? There in the street when he approached her. He didn't seem to want to hurt her... in fact, he let her beat him!

"It'll be okay... really," Levy reached forward and touched the hand of her past self, giving the girl a little smile. "I wouldn't have brought Gajeel here if I didn't think he was a good person... and you know the Master would never have let him in..."

"I know," the wounded girl whispered, offering a smile, "I just-"

"You don't have to explain anything," Levy leaned in to hug her former self, "I understand." It was hard not to understand. Levy was a very forgiving person, but she'd at least had more time to get used to the idea of Gajeel being in their guild.

"The point is," Erza continued, "That it will be even harder to convince Natsu to stop the fight. We'll need to find out where they are, because I'm sure they've moved, and then try and tell Natsu that they don't need to fight."

"That's going to be really hard," even Lucy looked worried, "The last time he fought Gajeel he really refused to give up," she smiled, then, looking just a little reminiscent, "He was really... amazing." Given that he was trying to save her, and with her help they both defeated him!

"They were back at our hotel where Natsu and Lucy found us," the future Levy explained, "That's where they started fighting."

"Which means the hotel no longer exists."

"Well they might have moved to the surrounding buildings!"

"Which probably no longer exist."

"Well..." Levy sighed, rubbing her nose, "I guess we should just go outside and look for a giant smoke cloud..."

"Don't worry about that," a voice from the side chimed in, sounding breathy and tired, "I've already got it!"

"GAJEEL!" Levy shrieked, hands on her cheeks.

Natsu held up the Iron Dragon Slayer's bruised, battered body with one arm, dropping him down with a deep 'thunk' on the ground. His head lolled to the side, streams of blood pooling under his cheek.

* * *

_Author's Note: _

_J__un'Hee Hyoma Hayagriva – That's really weird! When I wrote the moves for Natsu and Gajeel, I checked (and double-checked) the Magic & Abilities page on the Fairy Tail wiki and I'm POSITIVE it says Karyu No Kenkanu. I wanted to say "Kenkaku," even, but I kept it the way it was on the wiki since I thought I was wrong! I just checked the page again and now it says Kenkaku... XD So I think someone quickly changed it! I'll edit my chapter – Thank you!_

_I know that Gajeel has his guild mark, but at this point I am assuming that Natsu is too angry to bother looking for it and/or Gajeel just moves in a way that keeps it relatively hidden. I don't think Gajeel or Natsu are going to use reason and, even if Natsu DID see the guild mark I don't think that would be enough to stop him – Gajeel branded Levy with the mark of Phantom so I assume he could easily have faked a Fairy Tail brand on himself if he wanted to attack someone. _


	18. We will be back!

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"GAJEEL!" Levy dropped down to her knees, reaching for Gajeel's head. With Erza's help the two managed to flip him onto his back, where Levy stared hopelessly down into his still face, "Oh, Natsu..." her eyes teared.

"You don't have to worry, Levy," Natsu dropped down and set a hand on her shoulder, "You don't have to worry any more! I made sure that he'll NEVER be able to touch you, or any of my nakama again!" He beamed like a proud dog that had just saved its master.

"But Natsu!"

Huh? That voice sounded an awful lot like...

"TWO LEVY'S!?" he shouted, turning to look at the second Levy, then looking at the one under his hand. "EH!?"

"Natsu..." Erza's voice was solid, eyes narrowed to watch him, "Look at this." She tilted Gajeel just enough to show him the guild mark tattoo on his shoulder.

"Fairy Tail? How dare he put that there!" his fists started flaming again, "He-!"

"He's a member of Fairy Tail! We're both from the future, he's been a member of the guild for almost ten years!" future Levy sniffled, reaching to take her Iron Dragon's hand in hers. "He was my partner for the S-Class Wizard Tournament... and he fought by your side against two other dragon slayers... he's done a lot of good for us..."

Natsu looked confused at first, and then horrified. They'd seen plenty of crazy things in his time at Fairy Tail and he supposed it wasn't out of the question that someone could go back in time like those two did. And as long as Gajeel had the guild mark, and as long as the rest of his guild had already confirmed it, then... "I've... never hurt my own nakama before..." he looked down at his hands.

"G-..."

"Gajeel?" Levy sucked in, looking down at his face. "He's trying to talk!"

"EVERYONE BE QUIET!" the Titania ordered, giving a fierce glance to the surrounding members. "Gajeel?"

"G-... gi-..."

"What?"

"Gihi... GIHIHIHI!"

"Gajeel!" Levy threw his hand down and stood up, fists bunched up and ready to fight him – suddenly looking very angry, "What's the matter with you!"

He popped one eye open, then the other, giving Levy a devilish smirk, "Gihi! Flame Brain sure does feel a lot weaker than when I first fought 'im!" He sat up easily, brushing the dust off of himself and wiping the blood from his chin.

"What're you trying to say!?" Natsu fumed, plastering his forehead against the Iron Dragon's.

"I letcha win!"

"THERE'S NO WAY!"

"Gihi, thanks for the ride back to the guild!"

"OH YEAH!?"

Levy just sighed, leaning back against the bar and placing her hands on her head, "I'm so happy..." she would be very surprised if Natsu did manage to beat Gajeel, not because she thought Natsu was weak but because Gajeel had gotten a lot stronger. This time Gajeel also had all of his friends behind him – something that he'd never had before. Even if Levy was the only one in this world that really knew him the way that the rest of her guild did, their thoughts and memories were still with Gajeel; as long as he wanted them.

By the time Levy removed her hands from her face, Gajeel was in the middle of a massive brawl. Jet and Droy were punching Gajeel, Gajeel was punching Natsu, Natsu was punching Gajeel AND Gray, and Gray had one foot on Natsu's face, one fist buried wrist-deep in Elfman's mouth, and another fist tearing off his clothes – for which he'd be very surprised later on.

The only things that seemed to be missing were Wendy in the corner trying to avoid being injured, Carla scolding her for even being in the guild, Juvia running around to pick up Gray's clothes for her collection, and Lily on her lap contemplating whether to take a nap or throw a kiwi rind at one of the brawling men, trying to escalate the fight.

Even though sections of the guild seemed to be back to normal, Levy noticed a little bluenette sitting far away from the rest, seeming to watch Gajeel like a cautious deer, wondering what she should do. Since he was busy she seemed not to want to bother him... that might look rude, wouldn't it? Levy smiled and pulled herself away from the bar to go and sit beside her past self, giving her a happy, encouraging smile.

"Is he scaring you?"

"W-Who? Gajeel?" her former self smiled, shaking her head, "No, I was just... looking."

"It can be mesmerizing sometimes," Levy tilted her head, "When I watch him sometimes I picture him like a machine. He doesn't stop; he keeps on going even if he doesn't have a lot of fuel left. Back when he attacked the guild he kept going because he was prideful and stubborn... but now I think he does it because he really wants to live up to the Fairy Tail name, and he really wants to protect what he has now. I don't think he'd admit that to anyone, though... and that certainly doesn't mean that he still isn't stubborn or prideful!"

Both Levy's giggled and turned their eyes to watch him, but he wasn't there!

"Spreadin' stuff around about me?"

"Eep!" the past Levy released a surprised little shriek, turning to face him. "G-... G-..."

"Just stop there," he held out his hand and dropped down to a knee to even out their lines of sight. "Ya don't gotta call me nothin' if you don't want to."

"That's... that's not it..."

"Listen, there's somethin' that I wanna say to ya," Gajeel's expression turned serious, "I always wanted ta get a chance, an-"

"GAJEEL!" the future Levy shrieked and stood up quickly, looking at her hands. They were starting to fade, and now that she noticed it, so were his!

"Ah HELL!" the dragon slayer growled, standing up. "Looks like we ain't got any time left," he reached forward a hand and patted the past Levy on the top of her head, "I guess I'll hafta wait to say it next time." It would be a different copy, but it would still be a past version of Levy, and that's all that mattered.

"Good bye!"

"Bye!"

"Levvyyy!"

"No more two Levy's!?"

"I'LL WIN FOR REAL NEXT TIME, METALHEAD!"

Gajeel grabbed at his Levy, hugging her tightly to his side as they started to fade. They smiled and grinned at the guild members giving their salutations as a bright light consumed them both. With a massive eruption of magic, Gajeel and Levy sucked into their present, and the past from which they'd come started to fall apart at the seams. Just copies... they were only copies; even so, it made Levy tear up, feeling badly for her comrades.

* * *

"Is it working?"

"Just give me a minute," Ultear focused, holding the scepter out in front of her, summoning her magic with whispered incantations. Her eyes snapped open at the end to see a bright light forming in the floor, looking none-too-different from the way Lucy's spirits were summoned. In the center of the bright light were Levy and Gajeel, looking very happy to be back!

"Levy!"

"Gajeel!"

"... L-... Levy..."

"What's wrong? We're back, and we're totally fine!" Levy smiled, turning her face to look up at Gajeel. And her eyes froze.

Ultear clenched her eyes shut, turning her face away.

"Juvia sees too much!" Juvia clasped her hands over her eyes, shrinking behind Gray's form.

"What? I don't see a problem with anything," Gray announced. Because he was almost as naked as the two time travelers.

"Ehh, is that what you really look like?" Gajeel grinned down at Levy with a little waggling brow.

"OUR CLOTHES WERE ALL COPIES!" Levy screamed, dropping down to the floor and holding her arms tightly around herself. Why didn't she think of that before!? The clothes that they bought were merely copies of clothing that once existed, and since the copy world faded away when they were brought back, with it went the clothing!

"Hey... HEY, STOP LOOKIN' AT MY GIRL!" Gajeel pointed an angry finger at Elfman who had yet to successfully rip his eyes away from the terror of seeing his two guildmates in the buff.

Levy felt someone throw something on top of her and looked up at Lucy who was trying her best not to look at Gajeel. "H-Here!" she stammered, "Just take this!" she threw a second blanket at the dragon slayer, watching him take it and, very casually, wrap it around himself.

"Ahheyy, thank you, Virgo!"

"Yes, mistress," the spirit bowed, having been summoned to bring celestial blankets for her friends, "I'll wait for punishment."

"GO HOME!"

"Yes, mistress."

* * *

_Author's Note: _

_No one freak out! They're back in the present now but they are going back to the past soon. We still need Gajeel vs. Gajeel, and we need to find out what Gajeel wanted to tell Levy! I'm not done with the Past yet so don't worry if you were disappointed. I just needed to send them to the present to do a few more things first._

Sakura McGarden: I'm sorry if that was confusing, Natsu was speaking at the end of Chapter 17 =D he's the one who dragged Gajeel in.  


_Thegodeater: Gihi! Does this chapter please you? Gajeel was just faking losing since he promised Levy not to hurt him, and he couldn't have stopped Natsu any other way.  
_

_HeirToTheShadows: HE WILL NEVER TELL!  
_


	19. They're not dead

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"I can't believe I was naked in front of the whole guild..." Levy held her face in her hands, still trying to hide herself away from the nakama that surrounded her. She was fully clothed by that time, having rounded up something from behind the counter that Mira kept for emergencies – she was often losing clothing due to projectile stains.

"It's okay, most of the members weren't even here!" Mira smiled reassuringly, "A lot of people took on jobs so they'd be ready by the time you two got back. Everyone's excited to hear what happened!" it was a little odd considering everyone had already been to the past, but at the time it wasn't the 'past.'

"I wanted to be here when you got back, tell me EVERYTHING!" Lucy gushed, licking the tip of her pencil. She could use this for her book if it was interesting enough, and she was sure it would be!

"There!" Wendy smiled, sitting back finally. "Does that feel better?"

"Yep," Gajeel stood up and stretched, flexing his body to one side then the other. His wounds were healed with just a few healing cuts in places. Natsu did throw a good punch even if Gajeel had gotten stronger.

"So I heard I beat you to the ground AGAIN!" Natsu punched his palm.

"You didn't do nothin!" Gajeel growled, eyes narrowing and fists ready for a brawl, "I letcha beat me!"

"YOU WANNA SAY THAT AGAIN!?"

"I LETCHA BEAT ME!"

"Boys!" Mira stepped between them, holding her arms out, "I really think we should just focus for now on what you two went there to find out! So did you find anything out...?"

"... Eh." Gajeel rubbed the back of his neck and looked to Levy; she was the smart one! Gajeel remembered the gist of what the Brain had told them, but he was relying mainly on the Shrimp to remember everything.

The look on Levy's face had everyone pooling around her in a circle to see what was going on. She had obviously discovered something on her trip back!

"Levy-chan...?" Lucy asked with a hushed voice, trying not to jostle her too much. "You know that you can tell anything to your nakama... we're all here, right?"

"Not all of us..."

Levy's words made several people cringe. Just as she'd told the Brain, several of their members were down. As far as Wendy and Porlyusica could tell, they weren't dead but they were unresponsive at the least. No medical help was available for them and so it had been decided that the problem must have been rooted somewhere in the past – and it was true!

"They're not dead."

An audible sigh of relief filled the otherwise grave silence and several members found the strength to sit down and start breathing again.

"They're not dead," she continued, "But it's a really strong spell. It's a time-suspended spell. That means that they had a spell placed on them at one point in time, but it wasn't set to go into effect until a certain period of time. That way it makes it harder to track down who did it." If Ultear hadn't brought them the time scepters, they never would have found out! "It can be undone, but we need to know exact method that the caster used to do it..." and since the spell was cast years ago, they'd have to find both the caster AND have him remember how he did it! "There are many different ways to cast the spell, and it's very likely that he used a different method for each of us."

"Us?" Erza approached from where she'd been hiding in the back. Having just gotten back from her mission, she came just in time to hear Levy's explanation.

"Yes... Cana, Lisanna and Nab have already been affected by it, but the rest of us probably have it on us also. I think it's just a matter of time before the rest of us start falling under."

There was that horrid silence again. No one wanted to say anything because no one knew what to say, and it was really no use saying anything at all if they weren't going to have any meaning behind it.

"We're gonna stop this," Natsu was the first one to talk, breaking through the circle to the center, "We're going to stop this from happening, and then we're going to save our nakama and get them BACK for doing this to the people that we love!"

"That's right!"

"Yeah!"

"Righ-..."

"Uh?" Several heads turned to look at Romeo, holding onto his head and dropping down to his knees.

"Romeo!?" Natsu shouted, running over to catch the boy before he fell.

He released several coughs, shaking his head and looking up at Natsu with a bright smile, "I know you guys... are gonna save us, right?" he coughed again, feeling something in his head start to cloud over everything else.

"You hafta try and fight it, Romeo! Push yourself!" Natsu begged, lifting him easily off of the ground.

"Maybe... maybe if it was you," he shook his head, "Maybe with your magic... ahh... I can't do it..." his head started to droop down, "It's okay... I'm not scared... not... scared..."

"Romeo..." Natsu's eyes widened, looking ferocious. "No matter what happens... no matter what we have to destroy... we need to find out how to bring them all BACK!" Romeo trusted Natsu, Romeo looked up to him and idolized him! If he couldn't find a way to bring the boy back then he wasn't going to be able to look himself in his broken mirror in the morning!

"We'll go back," Levy stood up, turning her face up at Gajeel, "Gajeel, let's go back!"

"Eh!?"

"We can go back in time and find out what kind of magic they used! This time we'll prepare ourselves and Ultear can send us back. The Brain made it sound like the spells hadn't been cast too far away from the time that we met with him, meaning if we get sent back to around the same time period..."

That was a difficult decision, though. They would have to deal with their guild again; with Gajeel and trying to convince the others that Gajeel was good now.

"This time we'll do it right," Levy begged, stepping just in front of Gajeel, tilting her head all the way back to be able to see his face. "We'll know what to expect this time."

"Ehhh... don't do that..."

Her eyes seemed to get just a little wider, just a little brighter. And, damn the woman, she managed a little tear in the corner of her eye!

"I don't know how ya do that! But if ya stop doin' it then fine!" he grumbled, turning away from her. "But I'm bringin' Lily with me this time!" it would be nice to have another man with them on their trip.

Ultear closed the case for her scepters, "I can't send you back right away. I don't have enough magical power left... having you stay there for 7 days really took a lot out of me, so you'll have to wait until I can regain my strength."

"That's fine!" Levy's eyes shone brightly, "We need to prepare ourselves. This time we'll bring some paper, and some pens, and some clothes, and some-"

She was never going to stop! Gajeel wiped his face with his hands then lifted the girl up over his shoulder, hauling her out like a sack of flower, "Yeh can plan this stuff later on, Shrimp! Let's get shoppin'!"

"Shopping!?" several voices rang out, looking over each other to see the Dragon Slayer.

Whether or not he'd admit it, he didn't think that disguise of his had been too shabby... it would be nice to have a real version of that.

* * *

_Author's Note: _

_Jun'Hee: As for why Gajeel would confront his older self, you'll see why! To be specific, Gajeel vs. Gajeel is in Chapter 25 and Chapter 26; it is foreshadowed in Chapter 24. And when I say that Gajeel branded Levy, I did mean with the guild mark =D_

_Whether or not Jet and Droy got to see Gajeel or Levy in the buff... I'll leave that a secret for now! It can be allllll up to your imagination! Although maybe I'll answer it in another chapter?_


	20. Rough Massages and Broken Things!

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"Gajeel, can we just rest for a minute?" Levy asked, sitting down on a bench along the way to the shopping plaza.

"Somethin' wrong?" Gajeel asked, folding his arms and standing some feet away.

"I'm fine, I'm just really tired," she rubbed the back of her neck, lifting her head to look up at the sky. "All of that, being in the past, it was a little exhausting."

"Eh!? But yer the one who suggested we go BACK!"

"I know that," she offered him a sheepish smile, "And this time it will be better! But for now I think I'd just like to rest a little bit. It was stressful taking in all that information at once – even for me!"

He eyed her, sighing. Why couldn't everyone just be like him? Able to push on for days without resting; but he supposed Levy wouldn't be Levy if she was anything at all like him.

"Gajeel..."

"Eh?"

"Do you think you could help?" she asked, pointing at her shoulders. He had nice, strong hands! If he could just give her a massage she was sure she'd be back in top form.

"I ain't gonna do that!"

"... Please...?"

He hesitated, looking to one side, then the other. He narrowed his eyes, sighing and puffing out his chest. He didn't smell anyone around, and no one seemed to be looking... "Fine, but ya owe me! Somethin' BIG!"

"A nice BIG piece of Iron, right?"

"Now yer talkin!" he grinned, stepping behind the bench. "Now lemme see..." he focused, placing his hands on either of her shoulders and giving them a nice, firm squeeze.

* * *

"Are ya almost done!?" Gajeel shouted, looking frantic.

"Calm down!" Wendy shrunk down a little, shyly. "It's not that bad but you're distracting me!"

Carla reached out with a fan and slapped the man's ankles, "Get away from Wendy while she's working. You're not helping anything."

"Carla, it's okay..."

"I'm alright, Gajeel, really!" Levy winced, "I mean, I was the one who asked you. And it's not that bad! It just sort of locked up a little bit." And she couldn't move, or bend, and she'd screamed all the way back to the guild with Gajeel having hoisted her onto his back.

"Why d'ya gotta be so fragile, anyways!"

Levy's cheeks pressed in as she looked to him disapprovingly, "I'm not fragile! You're just too rough!"

"I didn't even squeeze ya that hard!"

"P-Please!" Wendy squeaked, finding herself in the middle of a lover's quarrel. "I-I think I should go now! I'm all done, Levy! You're going to be fine!" she snatched up Carla and skittered away like a little bug, trying to avoid the enraged dragon.

"Next time maybe ya shouldn't ask me ta give ya massages!"

"Next time I won't!" Levy stood up, trying to look fierce but, if she wasn't mistaken, she looked even SMALLER when she was standing upright!

Gajeel's jaw set and he bent down, almost leveling himself with her face. "Yer damn right about that."

Levy was silent, hands pressed tightly to her sides. Her brow had that cute little furrow in it even though, he could tell, she was angry with him. The corners of her eyes were welling up, either with frustration or with sadness – he couldn't quite tell.

"Alright, Shrimp, what's this really all about?" he asked with a little growl, staring her down several feet until her bottom hit the bed.

The little tears in the corners of her eyes pooled down and she reached forward to hug him around the middle, starting to soak the front of his shirt with her tears, "G-Gajeel I'm so scared! We don't have a lot of time left! What if... what if we don't save them in time? What happens if we all go under the spell before we figure out how to break it? Then we can never break it! And we'll fail our nakama; it's all up to us now! The ones who are left! Romeo fell today and who else is going to come? What i-"

A large hand grabbed her by the back of the shirt and lifted her up like a little lion cub, staring into her face, "Ya gotta stop that. Yer not makin' any sense. I ain't been here as long as you but ya gotta be stupid not to see how wrong ya are. Fairy Tail ain't just powerful cus of it's members but cus of the people that they meet that like'em. Ya got friends outside'a Fairy Tail, don'tcha? How many'a them d'ya think are gonna come ta rescue us if somethin' happens? And don't be puttin' this all on yerself, cus there's no way you can do it all by yerself. Yer just too short."

Fairy Tail had friends all over Fiore – they had friends in Lamia Scale and allies amongst the masters. Things had changed in the 7 years of their absence but now that Fairy Tail had regained its place amongst the best of guilds, Levy was sure that their friends would come to their rescue should they fail to save themselves.

Which, in itself, had to be a near impossibility. Fairy Tail always came through for its nakama; maybe it would take a few years or a little longer than was desired, but in the end they would always survive!

"Now ya got me all wet," Gajeel scowled, dropping her back down on the bed and looking down at his shirt, "It's got yer little fingerprints all over it!" little wet fingerprints dancing up and down his chest.

"Thanks," Levy sniffled, rubbing her eyes with the backs of her wrists, "I feel a lot better now."

"Well..." the dragon rubbed the back of his neck, looking down at the tiny thing. "I'm goin' home." He turned away from her, throwing the door open with a large palm. When he reached the guild doors, about to step outside, he felt a presence behind him. "Uh?"

Levy was just behind him, looking up with those large, batting eyes that she had.

"Go away!" He kept walking, keeping his hands swinging by his sides to try and look fierce. Tough. But there was that presence again! "I said go away!"

"Please?" she whispered just barely, stepping up to his side and holding onto his wrist.

"Eh!"

"Please?" she asked again, voice barely audible; but his dragon ears could pick it up quite clearly.

"I ain't here ta spoil ya!"

"Just this one more time," Levy got around to his back and hopped up, letting him catch her legs and wrap them around his waist. She held him around the neck, resting her chin on his shoulder as he walked on towards his apartment, apparently taking the shrimp to spend the night. "I'll clean!"

"YA DON'T TOUCH MY APARTMENT!"

* * *

_Author's Note: _

_Jun'Hee: Ah! I'm sorry! I just misinterpreted what you said; it wasn't your fault. I think that part of the manga was a little ambiguous, because obviously the mark wasn't permanent since Levy currently doesn't have it on her in the canon. Therefore I sort of made up my own scenario as to how it was put on Levy which I explain in one of the later chapters =D Around 24-26. _

_I wonder what happens that makes Gajeel fight himself, though? Gihi, you'll all have to find out!_

Also, the long awaited CHAPTER 21 is coming tomorrow! *glee glee*  



	21. You could always trust me

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

_Author's Note: I apologize ahead of time for a rather long Author's Note._

_This chapter was written as a lemon, but in compliance with the site rules I modified it so there's no heavy adult content… If you WANT the complete chapter in all of its glory, **I've uploaded it in one of my LiveJournal accounts. Since I also can't LINK it here, check out my profile - I've popped the link in there.**_

_If you want to read the full MA version, don't even bother reading this version – all I did was copy the safe content from the MA chapter and put it in here, and add a little to the end, basically fading to black. _

_I'll warn you that the original chapter is 3 pages long and steamy as a rice in a rice steamer. So prepare thineself! I've really never written a fanfiction before (to this extent) but I AM an avid roleplayer, so I'm very experienced with the writing of sexytimes. _

* * *

She touched his apartment. She touched alllll over his apartment. And when she was done, she touched his bed – for a very long time.

"Gajeel," she whispered after almost an hour of silence between them. She was trying hard not to fall asleep, but it was difficult with his chest rising and falling with every breath, several inches at least. Even her lungs were smaller than his; she couldn't hold that much air!

"Uhh?" he grumbled, one arm thrown over his eyes to block out the light and, to a lesser extent, her voice. Not that he minded her voice, but sometimes she could just talk... so much.

He felt her body shift, and he had to lift his arm away from his face to see what she was doing. She righted herself up, sitting on her knees just between his legs. With her hands on her belly she leaned over, giving him that sweet, innocent look that she often had. "Gajeel?"

"What is it, Shrimp?"

There was a little hesitation in her voice as she crawled out from between his legs to sit up higher, near his face. "I was just sort of thinking... are you happy?"

"Eh? Happy?"

"You know, with 'us.'"

"Do we gotta talk about that? Now?" he groaned, rolling onto his side with his back to her.

"But Gajeel!" she leaned over, pressing her chest up against his upper arm to lean in and see his face, "This is really important! I think I might be ready!"

Then she was on her back, and she didn't even remember Gajeel turning around to face her. His hands were snaking up her shirt, reaching to grab her.

"W-Wait!" Levy shrieked, pushing her palms against his shoulders and forcing him up, "Gajeel, WAIT!"

His ear twitched a little and his hands stopped, one just below her breast and the other still on her belly, feeling the soft skin there. "... Eh? What? What just happened?"

Her face was bright red and her breath had grown hotter; and there was that smell again. They'd never coupled but he'd certainly smelled that scent before, because he HAD gotten her excited on more than one occasion. He just hadn't been allowed to really taste the subjects of his attention; figuratively and literally.

"You can't ACT like that any time I... I tell you that!" in truth, Levy had been 'ready' several times before but she always managed to scare herself out of it before he got too far. Gajeel was a dragon slayer, and the implications seemed much more real when he actually started acting on his instincts. He always pretended not to be disappointed or offended at the rejection, but she knew that he was just trying to make her feel better.

"Right," Gajeel pulled himself away, throwing his legs off of the bed and setting his feet back down on the floor. So this was just another one of those times. His breathing, turned ragged and hot, started to speed up as he maintained a loose control on his feelings. "I gotta do somethin'. I'll be back later on."

Just before he stood up he felt tiny hands on his arm and turned to look down at that innocent face; "Gajeel... please stay here..."

Her body crawled up closer to him, ducking under one of his arms and climbing onto his lap. She sat with her side to his chest, lifting her head to plant a kiss on his jaw, "Just stay here... it'll be okay this time. Just keep it in control... please?"

Her request made his body tenser, hotter and poured more aggravation into his already ill-maintained calm. Large hands raised up, one holding her back and the other cupping the undersides of her knees. He lifted her off of his lap and turned to set her flat on her back before crawling back on top, mouth never more than a few inches away from her lips.

He reached first for his shirt, grabbing the hem and pulling it off of his body. The sight wasn't so unusual for Levy – she'd seen mostly all of the male members topless since, in a fight, such things did tend to happen. She hadn't seen any of them from quite this position, though, and it made her eyes go wide, eating away the scars and ornaments that decorated his body like little pink and white memories.

Memories indeed – Levy and Gajeel created a new memory that night, one that neither of them would ever forget. Memories of the two of them wrapped in each other's arms, exhausting themselves with the passion that the poor dragon had been holding back in himself for a good, long time.


	22. Bagels and wing nuts

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

Levy had woken up in Gajeel's arms before – given that he'd taken to snuggling her in his sleep like a toy bear – but this was a different sort of 'waking up' than she'd ever experienced. They were both hot, and almost sticking together; she was so comfortable there, body perfectly molded to his, that she wondered if she actually wanted to get up.

There were things to be done, though, so she turned her head just enough to look at him. She smiled at his sleeping face, looking very calm. The scowls were gone, along with the frowns, the sneers, and the annoyed gaze. It was just Gajeel's face, straight and unmoving as he slept. Then his nose twitched, and he snorted, and the spell broke – he was just lucky that he was as cute as he was!

"Gajeel?" she asked with a soft tone, knowing that he could hear her perfectly. He just grunted a little more, rolling over to try and get away from her, but he was holding her so tightly that he just took her with him and she landed with a little 'thump' on the other side of him.

The bluenette sighed, "Gajeel... wake up..."

"Uh..." his eyes opened slowly, looking down at her. What was that feeling? Ah... ah! That's right! He offered her a smile and bent his head down to kiss the top of her head. The action was so uncharacteristic that it made Levy squeak and turn bright red, shrinking her neck between her shoulders. He kissed the top of her head again, running a hand up and down her belly. "Mmm..."

"Gajeel," Levy shuddered, cheeks blushing more deeply, "We should get up now. We can't stay in bed all day," even though the idea sounded... great.

The hold around her waist slowly loosened, just enough for Levy to pull herself out of his arms. She felt shy suddenly and quickly climbed off of the bed to get her nude little body away from his. The first thing she grabbed was her shirt, bending to pick it up and replace it over her body with her underclothes. She reached for her shorts but stopped, feeling a pair of eyes on her...

When Levy turned, she saw Gajeel sitting on the edge of the bed, hands resting on his knees, staring at her. His face was serious and determined, eyes boring into her flesh like an x-ray.

"G-... Gajeel?" she asked, voice wavering.

He didn't respond, but she could see his eyes following her wherever she went. She tested it by moving up and down and walking in a big circle – his eyes didn't leave her once! She lowered herself – followed by his eyes – and pulled on the rest of her clothes, then moved out of his bedroom.

Levy headed towards Gajeel's little kitchen area, but she decided to turn back and ask him if he wanted to eat anything and... he was right there! She shrieked, not having expected him to follow her – especially not without getting dressed first! "Gajeel! What's WRONG with you!"

His eyes were intent, narrowed and focused on her face, and he said not a word.

"G-... GAJEEL!" she finally screamed, and the dragon released a grunt and took a step back.

"Eh!? What happened!?" he looked around the room, then looked down at his own unclothed body, "FFFF!"

He seemed to be... okay. The bluenette could hear him bouncing around his bedroom, probably getting dressed. "Are you... feeling alright?"

"I'm fine!" he called back, "Just, eh! Forget about it, Shrimp." He came back out of his bedroom, fully dressed, to see Levy standing there with a bag of bagels and a butter knife hanging out of her mouth.

Gajeel's eyes snapped open and he growled, charging himself at the girl with iron hanging out of her mouth. She looked delicious!

The girl just screamed and stomped on his foot, pulling the butter knife away, "NO! You're not eating this! This is one that I had to bring from my dorm because you ate all of the ones that Lily and I bought for you!" she slapped his hands away from her and hugged the bagels to her chest, "Let's take these to the guild and eat them there. We don't have any butter."

"Ya put butter on yer bagels?" he asked, scratching the back of his neck. Weren't you supposed to put wing nuts on them?

"Come on, Gajeel," Levy smiled, stuffing the bagels into her bag and throwing it onto her back. Her hand found his, holding it tightly and letting him open the door, leading them out of the building.

The two walked several yards away from Gajeel's apartment, and already Levy could see that Gajeel was acting strangely. He was glancing all around with that same determined, serious face that he'd had on earlier. He was grunting and clenching his hand around hers every so often, lips turning up in a snarl every time a man walked past them.

Gajeel was being possessive!

"You don't have to act like this," Levy frowned, "Those men were just passing by, they weren't even looking at me!"

The dragon slayer growled at her and grabbed her wrist, tugging her into his arms and lifting her up towards his chest. He carried her bridal style, kicking and hollering all the way to the guild.

Levy didn't understand what was wrong with him! He never acted this way before; if there was ever a time to act like this, it would have been when she was naked... in front of the whole guild! Or most of the guild, at least.

"I said, PUT ME DOWN!"

All heads turned to watch Gajeel enter, carrying Levy over his shoulder now – she'd gotten a little too rowdy and he had to shift her from his arms to his shoulder. Which was just fine with him, as long as his woman was safe.

"We need some butter," he barked at Mira, earning more than a few odd looks from the rest of the guild. Butter...? What... did he... want the butter for? KINKY!

Levy twisted herself around to look at Mira, begging, "Mira, make him put me down! Someone!"

"Hey, metal head!" Natsu grinned, slapping a hand on his shoulder, "Why don'tcha let her down?"

"YA LOOKIN' AT MY WOMAN!?"

"What!?"

"PUT YOUR EYES BACK IN YOUR HEAD!" Gajeel set Levy down and thrust his fist into Natsu's belly.

And so erupted the Great Fairy Tail Brawl, Version 3001.

* * *

_Author's Note: _

_At this point I have 39 chapters written and ready to be uploaded. I'd say that I'm almost done with it; I have gotten the main plot points, all I have to do is tie everything together!_

_I hope everyone is enjoying this so far, and thanks for all the reviews I've been getting =D_


	23. Dragons acting strangely

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"He's acting weird," Levy watched Gajeel, swinging his iron clubs around the guild with every other brawling mage in Fairy Tail attacking both him and each other.

"That doesn't look so weird," Lucy sighed, ducking down to avoid projectile silverware.

"On the way here he started shouting at all the men that passed us, even the ones that weren't looking at me! And he picked me up and carried me all the way here when I tried to stop him."

"That's a little weird..."

"What's weird?"

Levy and Lucy squeaked, looking up at the shadow looming over them both.

"Gajeel!"

"I just remembered, Natsu and I need to give Happy a bath!" Lucy laughed nervously, standing up and rounding Gajeel's massive body.

"But Lucy!" Happy protested somewhere off, "You smell a lot more than I do! Right, Natsu? Teehee!"

"SHUT UP!"

"You talking about me?" Gajeel asked when Lucy had gone away with Natsu and Happy, presumably to give the cat a bath.

"I was just... well..."

"You know if there's somethin' ya can't tell me, then ya shouldn't be working with me," Gajeel frowned at her.

"You're being awfully harsh right now!" Levy stood up, trying to look imposing even though her head barely reached his chest.

The Iron Dragon Slayer opened his mouth to say something, but decided that she was right. Gajeel saw nothing wrong with the way that he was acting but he supposed that someone like the shrimp had a more sensitive constitution than his.

He perched himself down where Lucy had been sitting, ignoring how the bench gave several loud squeals in protest under the dragon's weight. He grunted, laying his elbows on his knees. "Aren't ya gonna sit down?"

Levy didn't like how reasonable he was being – no! She was angry and he should continue acting like an oaf so she could be angry! But then she would be the unreasonable one so she turned and plopped herself down beside him and gave a defeated sigh.

A heavy arm threw over her shoulders and she felt him pull her body into his side, his hand firmly planted on her little waist, "I'm a dragon, shorty," he scoffed, eyes looking everywhere but at her, "Didn't ya ever hear about those dragons that live in caves and spend their whole lives protecting treasure and blowin' their flames at anyone who tries to steal it?"

"Well, of course..." those fairy tails weren't so uncommon.

"I gotta protect my treasure, Shrimp."

The solid script mage had... little to say to that. In reality she had quite a lot to say, but it was a simple fact of having too much to say that made her say nothing at all. Instead her mouth opened and closed like a fish, eyes watering around the edges just a little. "G-... Gaj-..." she sniffled, and he removed his arm from her.

"Don't get me all wet again!" he frowned, pulling his arm back to his knee.

"Oh, Gajeel!" it was just like from a story book! She squealed and threw her arms around his massive bicep, clinging tightly against him.

"YOU'RE GONNA LEAK ON MY SHIRT!" Too late!

"Master!" At the counter, Mira set down a glass to wave to Master Makarov who'd just entered the guild from his third story private quarters.

"Brats," the old man greeted, clicking his way down the steps to the main floor of the guild.

By then, Levy had managed to stop crying and Gajeel was drying himself off with a napkin, grumbling at how discolored his shirt was now that she'd soaked it all the way through to his skin.

The rest of the members tuned into the situation along with the pair and the barmaid, understanding that Makarov's presence wasn't simply to spend time with his brats; they needed to figure out what the next step was in saving their nakama.

"This place is usually full of bright ideas," he hoisted himself up onto the counter, crossing his legs under him. "Has anyone come up with something worth exploring?" that wouldn't involve destroying towns, getting arrested, or otherwise racking up the bills.

"I'm going to have to use the time magic again." Ultear entered from the main doors just in time to hear Makarov's question. "Levy and Gajeel plan to go again. This time I believe I can send them to a more specific time and place for a certain number of days. If the two of them can find out what kind of magic was used on the guild members, then we can we can undo it in our real time."

"I see," Makarov rubbed at his chin, closing his eyes. "That doesn't sound too expensive."

"We should send more members," Erza offered, "We shouldn't expect Levy and Gajeel to do this on their own; the people who have been affected are ALL of our nakama, and it's unfair to place this on their shoulders only."

"No!" Levy stood up, shaking her head. "I want to do this. Erza, you are always protecting the guild. You, Natsu, Lu-chan, Gray and Happy, it's always you who protect us. And I don't think that's fair to you! This time, I want you to be able to place your trust in someone else; I don't want anyone else to have to worry about this!" she wanted to be... useful. She wanted to do something that would make her feel as though she was worthy of calling herself a Fairy Tail mage! She had been a member for nearly her entire life but when she thought of some of the other members, she could hardly count herself as significant!

"Levy..." Erza's face softened just a little, the hold on her sword becoming looser. "No one here believes that it is your job to do this."

"I know that, I don't feel pressured to do this just because I think that I must," Levy puffed out her chest, "I need to do this because I need to protect my friends that I love!"

"I should add," Ultear interrupted, "That I can not send many people at once. A handful of people would take up all of my power; the more people I send, the less time I will be able to send them for. I was able to send two people for 7 days but if I were to send any more than that, the number of days would go down considerably; and the amount of time it would take for me to regain my magic would also go up considerably." It was already taking Ultear several days to regain her magic, just from sending two people! "If Levy and Gajeel go alone, I can be ready by tomorrow."

"Then, Levy," Erza smiled reassuringly, "We'll place our trust in you!"

"Thank you, everyone!" Levy smiled, "We aren't going to let you down! Right, Gajeel?"

"Stupid... fucking..." he grumbled, holding up his shirt and blowing on the wet spot to dry it. His bare muscles flexed, shaking out the shirt like a drying machine might. He'd clearly not been listening to anything. At all. "Eh? What was that?"


	24. I'm coming for ya, Shrimp!

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"Are the two of you ready?"

Gajeel was fidgety. His woman hadn't let him touch her in over a day which, for him, was a rather long time. 'Lemme atcha!' he'd say. 'But if you release all of your adrenaline now,' she'd argue, 'Then we won't be at our best when we go back in time.' 'I GOT ENOUGH FOR TEN BATTLES!' he'd shout. 'If you just wait, I promise I'll lock myself in your apartment with you for an entire week, when we get back,' she'd promise. Gajeel was a good little Iron Dragon Slayer after that.

He reasoned that he could just tie the little thing up to his bed posts, but his new life ran under the assumption that he was a changed person – which he was – and doing something like that would be a step backwards. He'd just have to wait.

"I said, are you ready?" Ultear looked just a little annoyed; Levy had already expressed her readiness but the Iron Dragon Slayer was looking off into the short distance like he was watching a movie.

Imagining your girlfriend in the nude when you had only seen her one time before took a lot of focus! He shook his head and grunted, "Eh? What? Right, ready," he nodded. The sooner they got this done, the sooner he could bar his apartment door shut. And he did intend to bar it; multiple times.

"This time will probably be more dangerous, so I am only giving you three days," Ultear explained. Once the two were sent through the parallel, they wouldn't be able to contact Ultear; if anything happened she thought it would be better that they'd be sent back sooner than later. "You'll have to work more quickly this time. I think I have a better handle on what I'm doing, so this time you should be brought back together."

"Good!" Levy exhaled, hand squeezing onto Gajeel's tightly. She didn't want to have to play that guessing game again, wondering where he was.

"Let's get moving!" Gajeel growled, feeling impatient. He didn't like the idea of drawing his woman into an apparent line of fire and he'd prefer for it to be over as soon as humanly – or dragonly – possible.

The two mages took a hold of the scepter that Ultear grabbed by the other end. She closed her eyes and started humming her enchantments for the second time. "_-tempus... ulterium_!"

* * *

"It worked!" Levy smiled happily when the bright light faded away. It felt just like last time, only this time around the two of them were side by side. They still weren't at the Fairy Tail building, but as they were only one street away she knew that Ultear had chosen a made perfect mark. "But we're a little far back this time..."

The last time Ultear sent them through time, they landed at the same time of day; She sent them during the morning and they landed in the morning. This time, though, they landed in the middle of the night. "Our timing is a little bit off but it'll all sort out when we go back! Fairy Tail is just around this building so let's go, Gajeel... Gajeel!?"

"Hurk!" his cheeks puffed out and he hunched over, blowing his contents into an unfortunate flower box. The petunias withered and died almost immediately, leaving behind a sad-looking window display.

"Really, Gajeel! With Time Travel!?"

"Urk... it's still travel..." he raised himself up, wiping off his chin the back of his hand.

Levy sighed and walked by him, deciding that he could take care of it himself if he was going to be silly and get motion sick from time travel... She rounded the corner of her favorite little bandana shop, aiming her body straight for the guild. Before she could get far she stopped, pressed her hand against her mouth and stifled a loud scream.

"Shrimp?" the dragon slayer frowned, closing in the distance and finding his place again at her side. He turned his attention to where her horrified eyes were looking, and... oh.

"STAY HERE!" he growled, grabbing Levy by her shoulders and pushing her back against the wall of the bandana shop, "Ya stay here and DON'T MOVE! When I get back I better FIND YA RIGHT HERE!"

He wasn't asking her, he wasn't just telling her – he was actually ORDERING her! He was ordering her to stay where she was!

It wasn't an order that she could ignore because she could hardly speak or move. The only other time she'd seen the guild in that state was 'that time.' The iron rods shot in all directions, cracking easily through the wooden walls of their poor guild. The timbers were still creaking, trying to give way to the heavy metal that threatened to destroy them further. It seemed, though, that even the guild hall itself was stubborn, so it refused to fall to complete ruin.

The guild members hadn't attempted to fix it yet, they were a little too busy being ANGRY. Master had told them that they shouldn't react and that it wouldn't go any farther than simply destroying their guild hall.

Master had been wrong, though. Master had been so terribly wrong that Levy, Jet and Droy were forced to pay for it in the end, along with the entire guild eventually. They had ultimately won but to that day in Levy and Gajeel's present, the solid script mage still had scars and stories to tell about what happened.

Somewhere in the distance Levy could hear a loud, terrible roaring. It shook everything and seemed to land directly into her ears. The sound got farther, farther away as the dragon ran through and across everything in his path, trying to get there as quickly as possible.

* * *

"My name is Gajeel."

"What do you want from us!" the past Levy took a step back, heart pounding in her chest. Jet and Droy were several yards away, both already haven gotten beaten away trying to protect their would-be lover. It was the worst horror imaginable to be ambushed on their way back from a mission by a man with glowing red eyes and a sadistic smile.

"Say my name, say 'Gaaahhh-jeeeelll.'"

"What!?"

"Say it!"

"I don't understan-"

"I want ya to say my name... because when you scream and beg me to stop... I wanna make sure you pronounce it right. GIHI!"


	25. Me, myself and her

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"GAJEEL! GAJEEEEEEL!"

"That's right!" he sneered down at her, grabbing the girl's cheeks hard between his hand and squishing her face until they puckered into a fishy smile. "Gajeel! Gajeel!" he mocked in a high tone, tilting his head from side to side as he loomed above her.

Levy sobbed, crushed by his weight. His the scales on his knees dug into her thighs where he pinned her down, purposely shifting his weight to dig the iron scales into her flesh. The scent of fresh blood hit his nose from where he'd impaled her, and he tilted his head back, releasing a euphoric shudder at the smell.

"G-... Get off of me... l-let us go!" she squealed, keeping herself still. Moving hurt; moving hurt so much... Things were broken and bruises were forming where there wasn't already an open wound.

"I ain't done," he snarled. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see a moving mass, and he reeled his arm back, sprouting a large metal rod and slamming it into the body that tried to tackle him. "I thought ya were already down!" he chortled, looking over at the figure of Jet who'd just been pounded into a cliff side.

"We... we won't ever..." Jet coughed, spewing blood from his lips onto the ground underneath his body, "Won't ever... go down... we'll always get back up..."

"Eh?" Weird people. But 'up'? That gave Gajeel so many delicious ideas. When he was done with them, he knew just what to do with the bodies!

"Now hold still, little girl," his voice got lower, red eyes glowing more brightly, "Gonna make ya nice and pretty..." One of his hands grabbed both of her wrists, forcing her arms up over her head and holding her firmly there. With how much her torso squirmed, that belly looked so vulnerable and tortured. Not tortured enough! "I'm an artist, and yer gonna be my canvas!"

"No..."

"Now just hold still!"

"No... N-NO... NO!"

He held a brand up, gripping it between his fist and looking down at her stomach, "I don't got any fire... so I'm just gonna hafta hit ya with this... over and over until the bruise gets nice and pronounced!" he raised the blunt weapon, throwing his head back to get a good view.

Levy watched in horror as the Iron Dragon Slayer on top of her prepared to slam his brand into the tender belly. He narrowed his eyes, snarled between his teeth, and... "Awh, I thought I'd taken care of ya already!" He turned his head, wondering what the hell those two Fairies were doing still conscious; he could clearly hear that someone was charging at him for the hundredth time that night.

But this time it wasn't a Fairy; it was bigger, it was faster, and it was a hell of a lot more angry.

Gajeel felt a massive weight slam into the side of his body and, before he realized it, he was plummeting through the air nearly a hundred yards from where he'd made his attack. He sent his hammer into the ground like an anchor to stop himself, but whatever hit him had definitely left a mark. He could smell his own blood, and he'd be damned if he wasn't going to destroy whomever, or WHATEVER had done that to him!

Levy felt a pair of hands slip under her, one under her back and one under her knees. They lifted her up off of the ground gently, pulling her in closer to the body to which they belonged. Her shoulder hit something warm, firm, and breathing just gently; it was like he was holding his breath just to touch her.

"A-... Ahh..." her mouth parted to speak but a flame erupted in her lungs and she started to cry, hiding her face away.

"Don't say anythin', it's fine. I'm gonna set ya down and I just want ya to lay here."

Levy's back hit something soft; it was cold, but it was better than the dirt ground on which she'd been beaten. "J-... J-..."

"They're fine, too. Just close yer eyes and sleep."

There was something familiar about that voice, but she couldn't place it... Levy had never heard Gajeel's voice as soft as it was being just then, so how could she pin the face to the sound?

* * *

There was an odd smell in the air. Gajeel could have sworn that it was his own scent, but it smelled a little different... and that was just silly. Why would his own scent, of all peoples', be sticking out now?

His answer came after just a few moments. The aura around the area changed; it became darker and heavier. The pressure in his ears intensified like the actual air became thicker – it was like tangible anger.

"Who are ya?" Gajeel asked, cracking his knuckles as he bunched his hands into fists. Out of the darkness he could see bright red, flashing eyes. That was funny, they almost looked like his own eyes...

The eyes narrowed, becoming tiny slits and a low rumbling sounded in the air, bouncing around the tension. "I'm Gajeel... but this isn't gonna work, is it? Since we're both Gajeel... so here's an idea. I'll be Gajeel, and you can be Redfox."

"What's that!? You're soundin' pretty smart for a Fairy!" it had to be a member of that guild, because no one else would bother to protect such a tiny thing like that little mage.

"Nah, the 'smart' thing's my girl's job," Gajeel sneered, "But I'm gettin' there."

Gajeel didn't like to waste time. He tilted his body back and slammed his foot into Redfox's chest. The other slayer's body was hard, but with his strength he was at least able to send him flying.

This time, Redfox caught on. He got half as far before using his iron hammer as an anchor again, slamming it into the ground. Rather than stop, though, he used the angle and leverage to launch himself like a pole-vaulter, aiming for this other 'Gajeel.'

"I don't know who the hell ya are," Redfox growled, turning his limbs into iron pegs, "BUT I'M NOT GONNA BE BEAT BY A FAIRY!"

"I already toldya," Gajeel ran forward and leaped up, ready to meet the man halfway, "I'm Gajeel; and... THE GUILD'S NAME IS FAIRY TAIL!"

* * *

_Author's Note: _

_Just to clear up any confusion, I know that Gajeel's fan-translated name is Gazille Reitfox. Having read the legitimate, published novels, I know that his official name is Gajeel Redfox so if anyone is confused, that's where Redfox comes from!_

_Also, could I get a show of hands as to who actually reads author notes...? I don't write them unless it's important and it seems to be that a certain complaining party might be happier if they took a moment to read what I take the time to write!_

_Finally, I am presently working on Lemon #2, somewhere around Chapter 43. There's also an Omake coming out at the same time; should be fun!  
_


	26. And good riddance to you

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"TETSURYU NO HOKO!"

"TETSUYRUKEN!" Gajeel's arm transformed into a long, pointed sword and ran through Redfox's roar. He knew just how much power would be behind that Iron Dragon's Roar, and by gritting his teeth and putting a little extra weight on his feet he forced his way through the spiraling iron scraps and found his way to the end of the path. When he got to a close enough range he swung his arm, aiming a blow at the other dragon's chest.

Having expected as such, Redfox sprouted his iron scales, thrusting his chest out and waiting for the hit to land. Nothing could break these scales! He was the Iron Dragon Slayer!

… But so was Gajeel. When the Iron Dragon Sword hit Redfox's chest, his scales broke and he fell back, landing several feet behind where he'd been standing. Since the scales were made of the same metal as the weapon, though, the sword also broke, sending shards flying in several different directions.

Both men righted themselves, panting, hot breath mixing with the cold air and making the area look smoky and almost deranged.

"That's a nice weapon ya got there," Redfox complimented with a reluctant sneer, "But it ain't good enough to kill me."

"No, I guess not. Not this time," Gajeel stood a little taller, looking at Redfox beyond the end of his nose, "But you'll go down for what ya did to the shrimp."

"Shrimp!? Is that like a nickname!?" Redfox laughed throatily, croaking his amusement through a thin smirk, "It's cute! But yer still just about as sharp as a butter knife!"

"Gihi... I eat butter knives for breakfast!" Gajeel'd had just about enough talking, by then. He let out a guttural growl and launched forward, intending to beat Redfox with his bare fists.

Even with the wound in his chest, the other Iron Dragon Slayer caught the fist and used his metal scales like a vice. With a little smirk he reached for Gajeel's wrist, stilling the man with another vice-like grip. "I'm gonna show you what happens... when ya underestimate ME!" he turned and, with a heaving thrust, tossed Gajeel into the air. At the same time he used his Iron Dragon Club, forming his leg into the hammer-shaped weapon and slamming it into the slayer's gut.

Without his scales on, Gajeel roared, body flying through the air.

If that man really was Gajeel, then that kind of a blow wasn't going to get rid of him for good; it was just a temporary thing... Redfox, realizing this, turned on his heel and started walking back to his previous battleground to complete a few sadistic engagements.

* * *

Levy opened her eyes after what seemed like an eternity of rest. In reality it had just been a few minutes; she could tell because her body still felt like she'd fallen ten miles out of the sky and landed in a pool of rocks. She might as well have, for all of the damage her body took.

The area around Levy was dark and unassuming – she barely remembered where she was. She could remember that she had just been getting back from a mission with her team and she could remember turning the corner to enter Magnolia Town from the forest. Before they could clear the trees, though, they were intercepted by... by him. Most of her memories after that were blank; there was the torture, the cries of her friends, and then the warm hands that lifted her and placed her here.

Here? Where was that? She dared to sit up even though her body protested. Underneath her hand she could feel a warm patch of grass, heated by her sleeping body. It was just plush enough to cradle her poor bones so she could catch some rest. Who had put her there, though, she wasn't sure.

"Jet... Droy?" her voice was small and it seemed to her like she was the only one who could hear it. It wouldn't matter, though, because both of her friends – one on either side of her – were beaten more badly than she. Levy might have counted herself lucky that she'd had a savior, but if she was really lucky then she wouldn't have to watch her friends go through that pain.

"Shrimp?"

That voice! Levy gasped, looking up at the figure that was approaching. His eyes were glaring at her and the white teeth seemed to sparkle with hunger. "W-What did you call me?"

"Is that a nickname of yours? One of the other Fairies called ya 'Shrimp'..." he cracked his knuckles. "Is he important to ya? That other Iron Dragon Slayer."

Other... Iron Dragon Slayer? Shrimp? He wasn't making any sense! "I don't know what you're talking about! GET AWAY!"

Redfox already closed the distance and reached down, wrapping his hand around Levy's neck and hoisting her up from the ground by her fragile flesh. "Shrimp... I can see why they call ya that! YER JUST SO SMALL! GIHIHIHI!" he started laughing, almost imagining that he was beating the life out of a sea creature.

No... No one called her Shrimp... she didn't quite understand... her eyes watered, little fingers grabbing onto his wrist while her legs kicked and swayed from side to side. Why did he do this to her? Why was he doing this... to her?

"There you are," Redfox could smell him. He narrowed his eyes and turned, holding Levy up at his side like a stripped chicken. "I was wonderin' how long it would take ya to find your way back here!"

Gajeel was verbally unresponsive. He couldn't even register that Redfox had spoken. He saw his mate dangling by an iron-clad fist; he could smell her blood floating into his nose like a waterfall. His reason was gone insofar as he could not stop himself from Redfox if he got the chance to tear him apart... but therein lay the problem; he did not have the chance.

"That's right," Redfox grinned, "If ya come any closer ya know what I'll do... can't attack me when I got your friend hangin' here like poultry." He gave her a rough little shake, making the girl's eyes bug out.

Gajeel's fists crunched, breath coming out like smokey fire, "Let my woman go..."

"What was that?"

"Let... my woman go..."

The future slayer felt conflicted. If he charged at Redfox now, the other slayer's reflexes would undoubtedly crush his lover before he could even reach him. So what was he supposed to do...?

"SOLID SCRIPT: HOLE!"

"Eh!?" Redfox whirred his head around, eyes popping open wide. Another blue-haired Fairy!? He didn't even notice the word just under his feet, and as the ground opened up he fell into the pit, releasing his hold on the girl.

Just before Levy hit the ground, Gajeel caught her poor body, holding it protectively to his chest and giving a glare to his own shrimp. He ordered her not to move! She disobeyed him... Although in doing so, she did give him the chance that he needed to free his other precious thing from the hand of that man.

He needed to get her away from there, so he carried the wounded body to the soft grass on which she'd been laying before. All the while, though, he could hear his own Levy shouting in the background.

"SOLID SCRIPT: FIRE! Solid Script: FIRE! Solid Script: FIRE!" she cast the same spell over and over, blowing endless amounts of fire into the hole where the Iron Dragon Slayer was still bewildered, confused, and incredibly angry.

When Gajeel was sure that his mate was safe, he gave a growl to Shrimp and nudged his head towards the wounded Levy, "Get over there, NOW!" he growled, sounding more like a dragon than a man, "And don't move!"

Levy didn't want to argue; casting that many spells made her feel weak and she stumbled, running around the flaming crack in the ground to drop down by her wounded past self.

"You..." All available eyes turned to the hole, watching the slayer inside start to pull himself out. "You... think... just a little fire... is gonna stop me..." he growled, pulling himself back to the ground. He looked unharmed, but the heat from the flames made his Iron Dragon Scales bright orange, glowing.

"I know that fire doesn't hurt you," Shrimp panted, frowning, "But I also know that you're covered in metal. And when you heat metal, eventually it becomes a lot softer!"

Softer? Gajeel's serious face turned into an ugly, sadistic, terrifying grin. It was so heinous that Levy had to turn her face away, and she covered the face of her wounded counterpart so that neither of them would have to look at it.

"You should know what happens when you threaten a dragon's mate..." Gajeel's arm transformed into a sword, scales covering his body. Since he'd already injured Redfox' chest, the rest should be easily accomplished. "Of all people... You will never touch my Levy again. You won't breathe the same air as her, and I ain't gonna let her stare at that chiding," he swung his sword through the air, "Sadistic," he made a pointed stab in Redfox's direction, "MERCILESS FACE AGAIN!"


	27. Because I love ya

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

The fight of the two Iron Dragon Slayers ended in what could only be described later as a merciful show of love for an Iron Dragon's mate. Redfox's body, torn and splintered, was one angry, unforgiving stab away from becoming a permanent part of the earth.

'Wait! Gajeel!'

Hearing his mate's voice gave Gajeel momentary pause and he held the tip of his sword against Redfox's nose, breaking the skin and hitting the cartilage.

'Look at him, Gajeel... look at what you are doing!' But Gajeel had known what he was doing. 'This is what the old Gajeel would have done; this is not what my Gajeel would do! My Gajeel knows mercy now. My Gajeel knows that the one underneath you is redeemable! Think about this, Gajeel! YOU did this to me! That IS you! You were the one who beat me, and you were the one who hung me in front of my nakama. But now they are OUR nakama, because someone gave you a chance when no one else wanted to give you chances. Give him a chance, please? Please, Gajeel?'

Because he loved her, because the submissive reason in the back of his head knew that she was right, he decided to stop and leave the barely conscious Redfox to fate.

That was ten minutes ago. Now, neither of them spoke; there was no time to speak, there was only time to run.

The wounded Levy's body was tucked against Gajeel's body, loosely enough not to injure her further but tightly enough to keep her warm and safe from shock. His hands cradled her body like a baby, occasionally glancing down at her. She had fallen asleep again, head lolling from side to side against his shoulder.

Jet and Droy hung from his back, held there by makeshift slings out of the blankets and extra clothes that Levy found nearby – left over from their finished job. The shrimp could be pretty crafty when she wanted to be!

"Here!" Levy took a quick turn, making Gajeel turn around to follow her. "There's a hotel right here." She burst through the doors and, ignoring the incredulous clerk, made up the stairs to find an empty room. The first few doors that she knocked on gave her responses but the last was silent, so she opened it and ushered Gajeel in.

As soon as she shut the door behind them, Levy knew that she'd have to take care of Jet and Droy by herself. If it was anyone else Gajeel might stretch himself to tend to three people at once, but since the injured bundle in his arms was the past version of herself she figured he barely knew Jet and Droy were even there. Taking them with him had just been a last minute thought brought on by a begging little bluenette.

Gajeel stopped long enough to set Jet and Droy down, untying the blankets from his makeshift harness and setting them on the floor. There was only one bed in that room and he knew to whom it belonged. When Gajeel turned away to set her wounded self on the bed, Levy set to work making two little bed mats out of the blankets and carefully setting her friends out to rest.

"Gajeel, I need to go get Porlyusica."

"No," Gajeel growled, turning to give her a quick glare. He didn't want Levy out there all alone without him. There was one Levy in the bed, and another one standing there looking at him; he need to keep them both safe!

"They need to be healed! The reason that we came here was because they can't travel all the way to Porlyusica in this condition, so someone needs to go and get her. If I don't get Porlyusica she'll get a lot worse..."

The dragon visibly tensed, seeming to consider what she was saying. The wounded Levy needed a real healer... and he couldn't leave her when she was like this. He could barely take his eyes off of the tortured body... but his Shrimp, letting her go off on her own knowing that Phantom was somewhere out there?

"Gajeel..." Shrimp dropped down to her knees, taking Gajeel's hand in hers. She offered him a happy smile, resting her cheek against his bicep, "The only one who could hurt me is gone now... all I'm going to do is go to Porlyusica, and I'll come back with her. I'll come right back. Okay?"

He breathed heavily, pulling his arm away from her grip and using the hand to take her chin, "Ya come back, right back," he confirmed, lowering his mouth to brush it against hers, "Right back." His mouth parted, forcing his tongue into her mouth and tilting his head to imprint the taste of her tongue in his mind.

"Right back!" Shrimp smiled. She stood up and opened the door, shutting it gently. On her way out of the hotel she made a point to apologize to the clerk... and pay the poor, confused man double the jewels.

* * *

"N-... Nnhh..."

It had been almost twenty minutes since Shrimp ran off to get Porlyusica. It would take a lot longer than that to get back, but Gajeel couldn't help but be restless every minute that she was gone. For all of the worry that he held for the Levy wounded in bed, he had twice as much for the Levy out there somewhere looking for a healer. He understood that the Levy in bed was just a copy, and that his real Levy, the one that he loved and was mated to, was so vulnerable in the night air.

"... Nnhh..." Levy was making her first stirrings now, face scrunching up just a little as she turned her head in the direction of a presence. Her eyes weren't open yet, but she could feel that there was someone beside her, watching her. Turning her head made her whimper in pain, forcing her wounded bones to work an extra shift.

"Don't move," Gajeel commanded, setting his palm on her forehead to still her. He leaned over and blew out one of the candles, leaving only one to glow. When she opened her eyes he knew she'd have a headache, and the light was going to make it worse.

Open her eyes she did, and the first thing she saw when she did was a large silhouette with glowing red eyes. "G-... G-... G-!" she gasped, heart rate increasing.

"Stop, calm down," Gajeel turned his face away, keeping his eyes away from her. His hand wrapped around hers gently, patting it, trying to be as gentle as possible. "I ain't the one who attacked you. I'd never attack ya."

It was the face of the Iron Dragon Slayer but his voice was so different... it almost relaxed her. "W-... what is happening... who are you?" her voice was strained and hoarse; her neck didn't want to do any work!

"I'm Gajeel Redfox, the Iron Dragon Slayer. But I ain't the one that attacked ya."

"But that..."

"It don't make any sense, right?" he gave her a toothy grin, "Well I can't explain it to ya, since I barely understand it! Do ya believe in time magic?"

"Of course..." it was commonly heard of, but not commonly practiced.

"I'm from the past; I was brought here cus of time magic. Me and the shrimp are investigating somethin'."

"Shrimp...?"

"Geh..." he rubbed the back of his neck, "Me and... and Levy."

"Is that...?"

"Ya already heard her."

Now she remembered; when Redfox had her neck in his fist she could remember hearing someone shout a spell that sounded like one of hers... that sounded like it was in her voice! At the time she couldn't see Levy behind her, but she'd got the inkling feeling that it was another self.

"Right now ya don't need to know the details... ya just need to know that I ain't gonna hurt ya, and that I'm gonna take care of ya," he continued to stroke her hand as gently as he knew how. "Because I love ya."


	28. Gajeel the carpenter

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

___EARLY CHAPTER/ Hurricane Sally is fixing to blow my house away, so just in case I can't update tomorrow, I'm posting this right now. Not sure if I'll have another release tomorrow (since I'm posting it now), so if you want to pace yourself then you should wait to read this one!_

* * *

Gajeel touched her with a sort of gentleness that surprised even him. Even if the dragon wanted to hurt the girl he wouldn't have been able to – It was as though there was an invisible set of hands moving his limbs in a way that made sure that she was always protected.

He hardly knew what he was doing – he was certainly no Porlyusica – but he needed to take care of her wounds before they could worsen before the woman got there. He threw the towel back into the bowl of water, pulling it out to wring off the excess liquid. Steam poured off of the cloth and he let it hover for a moment, trying to cool it just enough not to hurt her. Again. The water had been just a little too hot the first time...

His hand touched the cloth against her cheek and washed away the dirt and the dried tears, trying not to reopen any closed wounds. "That better?"

"It's not as hot this time," Levy whispered with a smile, daring to close her eyes. She'd been watching him very closely up until then, only barely able to see his face since there was just one flickering candle. As he worked to bandage her wounds, clean the dirt and blood from her body and make sure she was still 'decent,' she noticed that he was barely breathing. Gajeel wanted to ensure that he could hear anything and everything around the hotel.

"You said that you'd explain everything later on... can you explain it now?"

"I think we should wait for the shrimp to get back," Gajeel grumbled, "I'm not too good at explaining these kinds of things."

"Could you try...? Just until she gets back? I think it will help me calm down..." there was information and research to be done, and she couldn't settle herself until she knew what was happening! Her body hurt, yes, but this was almost like reading a story from a book!

Almost. Gajeel wasn't as eloquent as she'd have liked. "People're dropping like hunted quail in the guild. I mean, uh, ten years from now. We have a feeling it's got something to do with somethin' that happened in the past, I mean, uh, now, so that's why we're here."

"... I see." Maybe she'd just wait until her future self got back.

"I told ya I'm not good at this stuff!" he frowned, fist wrapping tightly around the cloth and ringing it almost dry.

"Gneh!" Levy turned her face away quickly, clenching her eyes shut.

"No, no, no no no no!" he stood up and shook his head, holding his hands out, "I didn't mean to scare ya! Don't do that! Wait, no, DON'T DO THAT!"

She was already crying just a little, sniffling, "I'm sorry! I can't help it!" she pouted, chest shaking.

"I AIN'T GOOD AT THIS STUFF, EITHER!" he grabbed the sides of his head and paced back and forth like he'd find an idea somewhere else in the room. "I gotta learn about this stuff! Is there a book on it!? D'YA HAVE IT!?" he almost begged, dropping himself to the ground and pleading at her with those large eyes.

Now Levy was smiling, giggling just a little in the back of her throat. He could be sort of silly... and cute when he was confused.

"Eh!? What're you laughing at!?"

"We're here!" the door burst open and Shrimp came bounding in with Porlyusica.

The poor woman hadn't even had time to put down her broom when Levy came into her house, demanding that she come to Magnolia and heal her friends. In fact, her arm was still reeling back with the broom high over her head, ready to strike Shrimp, who dared come into her house at that kind of hour. "You let go of me – I hate humans!"

"But LOOK!" Levy pointed at the bodies of Jet and Droy, still unconscious on the floor. "You're Master's friend, aren't you? You can't let anything happen to them!"

The woman turned her nose up at them, scoffing at their condition. "Fools." What had they done? "And you..." she gave a glare to Gajeel; didn't Makarov tell her something about their guild being attacked by a Phantom clown earlier?

"Please..." a little cough behind Gajeel brought the woman's attention elsewhere. Levy peeked out from behind Gajeel's thigh, eyes looking desperate, "Please take care of Jet and Droy... I'll be okay until you're done... just please help them?"

Curiouser and curiouser. Porlyusica threw her broom down on the floor and turned to leave, "I need to go get some supplies. No one touch them until I get back." She opened the door and slammed it behind her, making it clear how angry she was about being dragged out there. But still... they WERE Makarov's children.

"So..." Gajeel rubbed the back of his neck, unsure of what to do. "I guess you're too hurt to have fun..."

"Fun...?" Levy asked, voice small.

"GAJEEL!" Shrimp started shrieking, face turning red. Two Levy's did NOT mean extra 'party' time for Gajeel!

"GIHI!" he grinned, hands on his hips as he looked down at the both of them. "I dunno what to call ya. Here's an idea," since he was the Nickname Man, he knew it was up to him to settle the confusion, "I'm gonna name one of ya 'Shrimp' and the other one gets to be 'Shorty.' Which one do ya want, little thing?" he asked, giving a bright smile to his own Levy.

She wasn't having any of that! Shrimp drove her heel into Gajeel's little toe, making the dragon wish he hadn't taken his shoes off. It seemed like a good idea at the time; remove the loud, heavy boots so as to not disturb the sick and wounded. Now he wanted to damn them!

"You'll call her Levy," Shrimp pointed her finger at the wounded counterpart, "And as for me, you can call me Flower!" it was a play off of her name, 'McGarden.' The latter was a mouthful, but Flower was easier to say, AND prettier!

"Right," Gajeel stroked at his chin, "So you're gonna be Levy," he narrowed his eyes at Levy, "And yer new name is SPROUT!"

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I SAID!"

"GIHI!"

"I prefer Shrimp!"

"Shut up, both of you!" Porlyusica came back in, looking frustrated. "I can't work in here with you people watching over my shoulder. Go get another room."

"Gajeel," Shrimp whispered, tugging on his sleeve, "The room right beside this one is open..." she looked hesitant, "But I really don't want to leave them in here alone..." she wanted to have good, easy access to her friends and counterpart.

"Which room is it?" he grunted, pointing at the wall beside them, "Is it on this side?"

"Yeah!"

"Hmmm..." Gajeel seemed to think for a minute. But just a minute. He released a growl, pulled his hand back, then slammed it through the wall. The poor wooden planks broke easily, felling half of the wall into the next room.

"GAJEEL! What are you doing!?"

"I made a door."

* * *

_Author's Note: _

_I'm writing Chapter 43 right now and I have to admit that I am almost running out of ideas... I do intend to finish this and I don't wanna leave anyone hanging, but is there anything that you guys would like to see that I can add to this story? I know that you don't know what happens beyond this chapter, but I can try anyways, hehe!_

_There's some intense action coming up, not in the next chapter necessarily but in the next few; hopefully it's enjoyable for you!_


	29. Sorrowful apology

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"That's not how you're supposed to make doors," Shrimp complained. Almost twenty minutes ago Gajeel had blasted through the wall, knocked down several feet of carpentry, and then set it back up like a makeshift Japanese fusuma door.

"Stop yer crying," Gajeel scolded lightly, grabbing her head and pulling it into his chest like an overprotective mother, "Just go to sleep."

"You know, it's technically morning for us..." Shrimp sighed, closing her eyes. Even if the time was shifted, in Levy and Gajeel's real time it wasn't even afternoon yet; but here it was night time.

"I know, but ya ran all around Magnolia and helped me defeat a real bastard of a dragon slayer."

"Don't say that about him! I mean, you! I mean... wait!"

He clamped a hand over her mouth and gave her a dark, serious glare, "That reminds me... I'm still mad for what ya did. I told you to stay put and you disobeyed me."

Shrimp chomped on his hand, biting him just hard enough to make him pull away. "Now listen!" she frowned, "You can't order me around! I'm not your slave, or your maid, or your WIFE!"

"You're close enough." The dragon slayer gave a hard grunt and flipped her onto her back, throwing her off of his lap and down onto the bed where they'd been resting. His eyes narrowed, hands holding her down firmly by the shoulders, "Now listen. There isn't anything more dangerous than a dragon slayer gone wild after his mate; if anything were to happen to ya when I was like that, I'd hafta obliterate everything in sight."

"Gajeel..."

"I know I'm bad at explainin' things, so ya know that it's worse than I'm letting on. I'd be willing to bet every scale on my hide that if ya died, I'd even be able to give that damn Dragon of the Apocalypse the spanking of his lifetime just to let out my rage. Just nod yer head if you get it?"

Levy bit her lips together and nodded a little, turning her head and raising it a little to hold her temple up to his shoulder.

"Now yer just bein' cute..." he rolled over, pulling her on top of him and hugging his arms tightly around her.

"... So..."

The dragon slayer lifted his head, giving her a curious little grunt. If she wanted to say something to him, he wished she'd just say it!

"... Whatever there is between us... it's really strong, right?" her voice was small but she knew he could hear her perfectly.

"Of course it is."

"Is it something to do with the chemistry...?"

"Why're ya asking?"

"Well... you treat my past self just like you treat me..." but that made little sense, because they were one in the same! "So I just got to thinking of why that was."

"Gihi!" he let loose a grin, "Are ya jealous!?"

"No!" she beat her little fist against his chest, "It's nothing like that! I'm just really curious! I don't know a lot about dragons or dragon slayers, and I haven't been able to find any good books on it yet!" In fact, she had several of them on order from libraries across the continent, but none of them had arrived in their present. Whether or not any of them were good was up for discussion since she had ordered them after having only heard the name. Still, books were books and Levy needed MORE!

"Books!?" she was trying to READ about him? He started patting her head like a little kitten, turning his eyes back up at the ceiling. "The minute we fuc-"

"GAJEEL!" she wished he'd use prettier words!

"The minute we... 'made love,'" he scoffed, even though she knew that he loved her, "My whole body memorized your chemistry. What ya feel like, what ya smell like, what ya look like. Even what it feels like just to be around ya... and since she's a copy of ya, or who ya used to be, I can't help it. I gotta protect ya. All of ya!"

"That's not your job," Levy frowned, waving his hand away from her head. "You know that I can take care of myself... I don't want you to think that I'm just a baby!"

"I don't think that at all. But if I was in trouble, what would ya do?"

Shrimp was silent; of course if he was in trouble, she'd do her best to help him! She'd get an ARMY of people to go help him! Even if Gajeel was the Iron Dragon Slayer, Levy would do everything she could to get him back.

"I know ya used up all your power in that fight... so go to bed." Gajeel forced her head back down against his chest, holding his palm against her hair.

"Okay..." Shrimp yawned, closing her eyes and sighing against Gajeel's chest. She felt him shift, pulling the covers up over their bodies even though, in the morning, she knew they'd just be in a pile on the floor.

In the next room, Porlyusica was frowning; although that wasn't so unusual. What was unusual, though, was seeing two futuristic versions of people that you know in your present... She wasn't sure what was going on, but Makarov would need to be notified immediately.

At her feet, Jet and Droy had been properly bandaged. Their damage wasn't as extensive as it might have been if Gajeel hadn't intercepted Redfox; not spending a night hanging from a tree certainly did wonders to help the body.

Levy had been patched and laid to sleep, even though she had to fight Porlyusica on the subject of rest; she was enjoying listening in to Gajeel and Shrimp's conversation. It was weird to see your future self interacting with a future version of the man who tried to kill you... and the two were, apparently, lovers!

The healer gave a cursory glance into the next room to find Gajeel and Shrimp fast asleep, one on top of the other. Pah; children. She gave them a disapproving scoff before inviting herself out of the hotel, heading immediately to find the guild master.

* * *

"... No..." her head twisted painfully to the side, clenching her eyes shut. "N-... No..." her voice was shaking, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "P-Please... not... no, Jet, Droy... no!" she panted and tried to run, but as hard as she may her legs refused to give her the speed that she sought. "No... no... NO! NO!"

"Shorty!"

"NO!"

"Shorty!"

A pair of hands took Levy by the shoulders, giving her a gentle shake. Her eyes snapped open, staring up into the most terrifying, glowing red eyes she had ever seen. "GYAAA!"

"Shhh!" Gajeel pulled her into a little hug, holding her loosely against his chest. Damn! He should have turned a light on or something so his eyes wouldn't look so menacing!

"G-... G-!"

"Yer in the hotel, it's fine. I'm right here and I ain't gonna hurt ya," he grunted, keeping his head by her neck so she couldn't see his eyes.

"S-... sorry... I'm so sorry!" she didn't mean to scream at him or make him feel badly; surely he didn't want to be compared to the brute that he used to be?

"Don't be sorry," he pulled away, turning his body so he could sit on the edge of the bed. "I guess it's good that ya woke up, cus there's something I wanted to tell ya." He didn't get a chance the last time they were in the past, but now there was more than enough time!

"What... what is it?" Levy sat up a little, wincing as her wounds weighed down heavily on her.

Gajeel stilled her with his palm, nudging her to lay back down, "I gotta apologize."

"What do you mean...?"

"I know ya forgive me... in the future, and maybe ya forgive me now, but I gotta get it out of my head what I did. I can apologize as many times as I want for what I did to the shrimp, but all those scars and bruises went away already so I don't think it would mean much, cus I always feel guilty but sometimes I forget what I feel guilty for. Now I remember." An apology wouldn't be as significant if the event had long-since passed, right? "I know this whole thing is crazy, but while I'm here I want ya to listen up real close," his face became serious and he grabbed her shoulders, bringing his face closer, "If anything ever happens, if ya ever need me, I want ya just to scream my name as loud as ya can. I'll come for ya, and I'll keep ya safe. Ok?"

Levy's bottom lip quivered, bobbing up and down as she stared at him. It was beautiful to see such a big, strong, testosterone-driven man like him give an apology like that. She gave a few whimpering sobs then broke down into a flurry of tears that made Gajeel's hair stand on end.

"EH!?" he grabbed his face, "DID I HURT SOMETHIN'!? Not again, don't do that! I AIN'T SCARY!"

"It's not that!" she sniffled, smiling just a little, "But... I-I want you to call me, too! If you're ever in trouble!"

"I'LL CALL YA, SHORTY!" he grabbed her for another loose hug, "I'll call ya every time I can't bend down far enough to reach stuff that rolls under my couch!"

That was... almost sweet, so Levy just nodded and pressed her face against his neck. She decided that she liked the way that he smelled, and the way that he felt; her future self was definitely a lucky woman!

On the other side of the wall, Shrimp had also been sent into tears; she was very glad that she woke up when Gajeel did, because hearing him say all of those things just made her love him... so much more than she already did.

Oh! He was coming! She spun away from the wall and jumped up onto the bed, quickly trying to get in the position that she was in when they were sleeping.

"Gihi..." Gajeel chuckled to himself, having laid Shorty down to rest. He heard little feet race to the bed in the next room and turned his head into the doorway and grinning at Shrimp as she pretended to sleep. Little sneak, listening in on his very important conversation with Shorty!

He walked into their bedroom, trying to look very casual and unassuming. Then he took a running start and made a flying leap at the bed, recoiling the springs enough to launch the bluenette halfway to the next room. "Good night, Shrimp!"


	30. Hanging by your toes

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

Shrimp was barely awake but she could tell that they were in that position again; Gajeel's weight pressed down on her, fluttering her hair with his breath. The thigh on her legs moved just a little, giving her enough room to roll onto her side and face away from him to check on their surroundings in the daylight.

"... MASTER!" when Shrimp opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was the kind, wrinkled face of the old man. He didn't look happy, though... neither did he look unhappy. He seemed to be scrutinizing her, the situation, and the man behind her.

"Stop yellin'," Gajeel demanded in his sleep, swinging his enormous mitts around; he came just short of punching Makarov in the forehead. "It's early..." he yawned and rolled over, away from the girl so he could get a few more hours' sleep – if she'd let him.

"Gajeel," Shrimp prodded at his back, "Gajeel, you REALLY need to wake up now!"

"Eh? What is it!?" he rolled back, opening one eye. "Old man!"

"Mmmm," Shrimp shifted, strategically placing herself in front of Gajeel as he sat up, cracking his back in several places, "Master, what are you doing here?" since Porlyusica was behind him, she assumed the old woman had called for him.

"Let me just have you understand one thing," Makarov began, "The only reason I haven't sent you through the wall," his voice was directed at the Iron Dragon Slayer, "Is because of her," he gave a little gesture to the Shrimp, "Her," he gave a gesture behind him to where Levy stood, peering in from the next room, "And that thing on your arm," he gestured to the guild mark on Gajeel's bicep where his Fairy Tail emblem proudly sat.

"Master, please!" Shrimp begged, backing up against Gajeel's chest, "We have a lot of things to explain!"

"You do," Makarov turned, clicking his staff against the floor, "Let's go somewhere less crowded." In other words, somewhere less filled with expensive buildings that, should a fight break out, he'd have to PAY for!

* * *

"WOO-HOOO!"

"It's not really that great of a thing..." Shrimp's face flattened, watching Master leap up and down at the news that he didn't have to pay for the 'door' that Gajeel had made in the hotel. Nor did he have to pay for the damage done to the guild, or the surrounding area! "You don't have to pay for anything because you already HAVE," she reiterated, "Just... in the future!"

"That's good enough for me!" Makarov beamed, wondering what he was going to do with all of that extra money.

"But..." Shrimp had the idea that he wasn't quite understanding; or maybe he did? Master had a funny way of understanding a great many things without letting on that he understood anything at all.

"Now," he ignored her reluctance, resting his hands on his knees, "What are we going to do about that problem that we're having in the future..."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN!?" fire erupted in the background, setting the ceiling aflame – again. "WHAT ABOUT THE PRESENT!? WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO ABOUT PHANTOM!?" Natsu, strung up by his toes, waved back and forth, spewing his flaming breath at everything he could reach. His arms were pinned behind his back with three layers of chains, aimed at restricting the Fire Dragon Slayer at least a little. He clearly didn't understand anything about what was happening, or why Gajeel was being allowed to sit there calmly with them.

"Look at what they did to Levy... look at what he did to Jet, and Droy! HE DID THAT TO THEM! We're not going to let him do that TO OUR NAKAMA!"

It seemed that most of the other members were on Natsu's side, watching Gajeel with cautious, angry eyes. Shrimp's eyes were in tears, feeling terribly that she had forced Gajeel into this situation for the third time. Her hands clung tightly to his arm, pressing her body against his side in the hopes of giving him at least a little bit of comfort.

"Shrimp," he grunted, giving her a glance, "It's gonna be fine." He knew what those looks were about and he couldn't blame them. He handled them just fine the first time they were given to him, in his own present when he'd first joined Fairy Tail – he could handle them now.

"LISTEN UP, BRATS!" Makarov stood up on the rickety, breaking railing. The guild was falling apart all around them and it was hard to move with the iron bars in the way – Gajeel could move them but he didn't think it would be a good idea to display his strength again... for now. "The Iron Dragon Slayer is here as a friend, and if anyone is questioning whether or not he belongs here then you're questioning the mark on his arm, and my decision as MASTER of this guild to make him a true member!… Apparently!"

"Um..."

Several heads turned all at once, gasping at the figure of Levy stumbling her way in from the back room-turned-infirmary. She was covered in bandages, using a little cane to walk, but she wanted to make sure that no one dared to mistake the Gajeel in the guild hall for the one that attacked her team!

"Levy-chan!" Lucy gasped, running over to help her stand, "You really should be resting! Purlyusica said-!"

"It's okay, Lu-chan," Levy smiled, finding a seat that someone pushed over to her. She plopped her little self down and smiled at everyone with that happy grin even though her body was bruised and battered. "I just wanted to say some things..."

"Yes?" Makarov asked, opening his eyes a little wider to watch her.

"Y-... Yes, Gajeel Redfox attacked me... and he was going to do things to me even more horrible than what he already did!" the eyes on Gajeel became harsher, more accusing, "But not THAT Gajeel!" she pointed her finger at the dragon slayer, "I don't really know exactly what happened and I don't think I'll ever be able to remember, but I know that that man saved me, and protected me, and then he took me somewhere save and cared for me until Porlyusica came to get me. He did everything that a Fairy Tail member would do, so how can we say that he's not a real member of Fairy Tail...?"

Without seeing anything for their own eyes, the members of the guild could only take the word of Levy (both of her), Makarov, Porlyusica and that mark on Gajeel's arm to tell them whether or not he was trustworthy.

"You have our word," Erza stepped forward, dropping to a knee in front of Levy, "That we won't harm Gajeel Redfox. Unless he harms us first." She still had to cover her bases. "But until that happens, then Gajeel Redfox is accepted as a member of this guild, and we will lend him and Levy... uh..." that other Levy! "Our aid."

"Is that understood?" Makarov added at the end, flicking his gaze to each of the members, even though most of it was directed at Natsu. "IS IT?"

"... Fine," Natsu's eyes grew dark, "I will do it because of everything that you said." For Levy! And Master!

Someone unlocked the chains around Natsu, letting him drop down to the ground. "But if anyone hurts anyone else from this guild..."

"They won't," Gajeel said finally, eyes glowing red, "I ain't gonna hurt anyone here."

"If you're all done acting like paranoid children," Makarov sat back down on his railing, "Then let's decide what to do about our dying selves."

* * *

_Author's Note:_

_For the confused, for the duration of their trip back in time, the past Levy will be 'Levy' and the future (or present) Levy will be 'Shrimp,' at least for the non-dialogue text. Gajeel will call Shrimp 'Shrimp' and he'll call Levy 'Shorty' in speech._

_Gajeel said she was going to be Sprout but Shrimp didn't like that idea so she's still Shrimp XD_

_Shrimp will go back to being Levy once they go back to their normal time, though._


	31. Welcome Phantom

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"We're going to stop it! AT ALL COSTS!" There he was again. Hanging by his toes, swaying back and forth like a moron. Ever since the word 'dying' came up, Natsu couldn't seem to control himself. He, of course, didn't understand that there was nothing he could do to stop it... other than help Gajeel and Shrimp! "Now LET ME DOWN! LET ME DOWN SO I CAN DESTROY THEM ALL!" everyone who dared tamper with Fairy Tail!

"If you promise to calm yourself, I'll release you," Erza coolly stated. "But if you keep acting like that, I'll just draw the chains tighter."

"Do it anyways!" Happy suggested, chortling behind a hand.

"The only thing we can do now, is... is... ahh..." Shrimp started looking around for a chair, a stool, something! She hated having to speak to all of her nakama at once, because it only made her feel as though she was that much shorter.

Noticing her height-challenged distress, her dragon grabbed her waist and lifted her high onto his shoulder again, letting her sit above his left bicep. "The floor's yers!"

"Right..." her eye twitched just a little, annoyed that she had to use her boyfriend as a stair lift, "... The only thing that we can do is find out who placed the spells on us. If we can find out who it was and how it was done, then in the future – our time – we can reverse it. Without that information I don't think there's anything that we can do... the form of magic that they used was created for stealth. It was made so that the caster would be hard to track down." It was certainly working. In the future he'd made himself scarce enough to evade their searching eyes for MONTHS!

"If we didn't notice the spells being cast on us back when it happened... uh... I mean..." Gray seemed to fume out of the ears, trying to make heads or tails out of the situation, "I mean... now? When it happened? Gah! I mean...!"

"You mean," Lucy stepped in, trying to put her intelligence to use, "That if we didn't notice it back them, how would we all be able to notice it now? But the difference is that back when it happened to them, or us, we weren't really looking for it... Now that we know something is going to happen, we can look for it and stop it!"

"That's right!" Shrimp smiled, "Almost right, at least... there's no way to stop it in this universe, but as long as we can find out what happened we can fix it. We can-... can-... What is that sound?" It was a light crunching sound, starting out loud and growing a little... wetter. She looked around, and then looked down, giving Gajeel a glare, "Gajeel what is that?"

"Mmm?" he looked up at her with crumbs all over his chin and a half-eaten cracker in his hand, holding it up to her, "Well ya said ya didn't want 'em last time..."

"G-... Gh-!" her face turned bright red, fingers twitching, eyeball bugging out of her head. It had finally happened! Gajeel had finally made her so angry that the very aura of rage actually CRACKED the floor underneath them and sent them into the basement!

The two of them started coughing, smoke filling their noses and debris falling around their bodies. Shrimp's body was pressed tightly underneath Gajeel, his arms snaked around her shoulders and legs lifting his body so he wouldn't crush her. Sometimes the man's reflexes amazed her to have been able to protect her between the guild hall and the basement.

"Ya know, Shrimp," he coughed, keeping a firm hold on the back of her head, "If ya only had that power normally..." like during a fight! If she'd been able to do that kind of thing on Tenrou Island, she might have even won!

"I – gack – I didn't even do anything!" she whined, pressing against his chest so she could look around, "What just happened?"

"I dunno," his ears flicked and he started sniffing the air, "But I don't like this." Something in the air was weird, thick and vile. He lifted her easily, crouching low and jumping back through the hole they'd fallen through. When he righted himself back into the guild hall, he noticed that the whole place had cleared out, and several more areas of the guild were in complete shambles; never mind just the hole they'd fallen through.

"G-... Gajeel..." Shrimp's voice was barely a whisper, wriggling out of his arms and letting her little feet hit the floor. She ran across the hall to the courtyard just outside where the rest of her nakama were waiting.

And waiting for them, just across the way, was the mobile guild Phantom Lord.

The dragon's teeth clenched together, hands automatically seeking out his little shrimp. He grabbed her and held her tightly against his chest, arms wrapped across her chest and her hips to keep her in place; not that he expected her to go running towards Phantom like a maniac. Like... like that guy up there...

"PHANTOM! ROOHHHH!"

"Natsu!" Makarov shouted, stomping his foot down and shaking the earth just enough to send the Fire Dragon Slayer reeling into the ground. The old man reached out a massive arm and grabbed the salamander, pulling him back, "Calm yourself down!"

Slowly the master stepped forward, tilting his head back to look up at the guild. "Mmmm..." if Redfox was really out of the count like Shrimp and Gajeel said, then this might be a lot easier.

"Don't underestimate them," Gajeel spoke up from the back, holding Shrimp under his arm like a dangling, life sized doll, "Ya just barely won last time." Even if Gajeel himself wasn't fighting against Fairy Tail this time, Juvia, Sol, Aria, and Totomaru were rather powerful in themselves.

"But this time we have an Iron Dragon Slayer on our side... don't we?" Makarov asked with an inquisitive glance.

"Gihi! That's right!" Gajeel beamed, putting on his best 'good boy' face.

"Just making sure."

"Hey! Stripper!"

Gray turned to him with a scowl, arms crossed over his chest, "Are you talking to me!? GAH! WHERE'RE MY CLOTHES!"

"There's a Rain Woman somewhere in there just waitin' to see the sun. Yer gonna fight her, and yer gonna win but ya gotta go easy on her, okay? She's gonna join your guild someday."

"Hmm..." so his opponent would be the Rain Woman? Gray looked over at the guild, narrowing his eyes and focusing for battle.

"Gajeel..." Shrimp held onto his wrist tightly, trying to get him to set her right-side-up, "Even a the flap of a butterfly's wings can change the turn of time..."

"What're you saying down there, Shrimp?"

"It means... it means that we've already changed so many things just by being here. The battle against Phantom isn't going to go the way that it was last time, we have no idea what will really happen!"

"Don't worry," the dragon slayer sneered, eyes glowing red, "If the butterfly tries flappin' its wings... ya just gotta SMASH IT!"

* * *

_Author's Note:_

_Gihi! I'm glad that people like my story enough to want more chapters, and as much as I'd LIKE uploading more than one a day, I think I'd rather be eeevil and just string you all along. It makes things much more suspenseful that way! Especially in the chapters to come when the heat is really on. WHO WILL DIE? WHO WILL SURVIVE?_


	32. New Iron Dragon Slayer

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

It truly amazed Shrimp how many things would throw off of their balance just because of one change in the time pattern. The battle against Phantom Lord was going very differently than she remembered it – and Fairy Tail was dangling above the pit of loss.

Because the Iron Dragon Slayer had been presumably beaten by someone from Fairy Tail, their tactics had become a great deal more severe. They came from the ground, using Digger Magic to erupt out of the earth like a bubbling geyser of violence and anger. Their faces were snarling, glaring and sneering at the 'Fairies' as they dropped them down by the dozen.

Shrimp was sure that, without her Second Origin, she'd have fallen several painful minutes ago. Already, though, she was panting, turning in every direction and firing every spell she knew how.

"ROHHHH!" Natsu flew by Shrimp, his flaming fist aimed for the head of a Phantom grunt. Just behind him was Lucy, using the path that Natsu cut to run from a hoard of Phantom members. Why were they after HER!?

"How dare you," Erza's voice cut through the mess, pointing the tip of her sword at a 7-foot Explosion Mage with a bag of artillery and a proud smile on his face, "How dare you leave the safety of your fortress and expect to escape with your life... LET US SHOW YOU THE POWER OF FAIRY TAIL!"

The flash of red made Shrimp teary-eyed, finding it powerful just how loyal Fairy Tail members were to their guild and friends.

Speaking of friends, she hadn't seen Gajeel for a long while. At the beginning of the fight he'd refused to leave her side, but all of a sudden he vanished and she wasn't sure where he went...

Suddenly, it was no longer important. "LU-CHAN!" Shrimp screamed, panicking when she saw the blonde girl hit the ground. She rolled several times, landing in a deep crater made by one of Natsu's previous attacks. With the Fire Dragon Slayer occupied, the men had finally seized Lucy, pulling the wriggling, screaming girl up and binding her with magical seals.

"NATSU! NATSU!" Lucy screamed, looking for her pink-haired friend.

"LUCY!"

He was not far, but he was far enough to miss his chance, only able to watch in horror as Lucy disappeared in a puff of smoke. Where she stood was the crater, looking empty and desolate.

* * *

"Let me go!" Lucy coughed, forced down hard into a chair, bound at the wrists and ankles.

Looking smug and self-important, Jose leaned over her and let his nose tickle the bangs of her hair, "This job is turning out to be more fruitful than I had first expected..."

"What are you talking about!?" Lucy clenched her eyes shut, tearing her head away from his nasty, hot breath. She wasn't sure how much her father was paying these people to get her back, but what more could the man possibly want?

"Who is that new Iron Dragon Slayer?"

"The... the what?"

"The one who beat Gajeel Redfox," he lowered himself down, sneering a wide, sadistic smile, "I'd really like to know..."

Natsu left to save Lucy an hour ago; it was a terrifying hour that left the entire guild – what was left of it – holding their breath. No one knew quite what was happening up in the mobile guild hall, but given that a good portion of it was on fire, they assumed that the battle still raged on.

And, while the Fire Dragon Slayer was occupied with the Element 4, aided by Gray, Mira, and Elfman, Jose decided to make a visit down on the battlefield.

* * *

"Hello, my dear."

Levy gasped, whirling around quickly to face the speaker. Mira had begged her not to fight, and Master had given her an order not to leave the infirmary, but the bluenette couldn't help it – her friends were all out there fighting and even with several broken bones and enough bruises to turn her an entirely different color, she wanted to help! She did her best to avoid the Master, and her future self who, she was sure, would scold her for attempting to join in her condition.

"Levy! Levy!"

"Who is that with Levy?"

"Is he an Element 4?"

Several members rushed to the wounded girl but the approaching man held out his arm and, in a rush of dark power, sent thousands more hooded figures out. The figures surrounded Levy and himself in a wide circle, blocking outside interference from daring interrupt his business.

"Who are you?" that voice sounded familiar, but Levy had never seen the man's face...

"My name is Jose," he smiled with a low bow, "It's a pleasure..."

"SOLID SCRIPT: FLAME!" Levy shrieked, holding her arms up over her head. The world was written in the sky above Jose's head, falling on top of him and exploding into bright, hot flames.

The spell left the woman panting but, when the dust and debris faded away, Jose stood in the center with a chortling laugh and a perfectly pristine body. "That was very amusing. I like your hand gestures but they could be just a little more... graceful," he waved his arm through the air, producing a bright purple arc.

"What-... what is th-" the purple arc exploded, impaling Levy's body with several streams of dark magic, opening the wounds with which it came into contact. "GGYAAA!"

"You're a very interesting person..." Jose stepped closer to Levy, watching her roll around on the ground, "But you're not as interesting as one of your friends."

"W-... who... who..."

A hand reached down, plucking the girl up by her neck and giving it a hard squeeze. Having already been crushed by Redfox the previous night, she could feel consciousness slowly slipping out.

* * *

"I got no TIME for you!" Gajeel growled. How long had it been since he left the shrimp? Where was she!? He could barely smell her over all of the commotion, but he had a feeling deep in his gut that she was okay; without seeing it with his own eyes, though, he couldn't quite settle himself completely.

He wasn't even sure why he left her side in the first place. He had been vicious, sending people ten at a time across the battlefield with his massive hammer and his Iron Dragon Roar. First he hit one person, then another, and another, and before he knew it the shrimp was nowhere to be found. If she wasn't a lot stronger than she had been back during the first Phantom attack, he would have tried a little harder to find her again.

What Gajeel could not deny, though, was how good it felt to be so undiscriminating in his destruction. It had been a very long time since he was really allowed to let his power go like this, aiming his attacks at nearly everything he chose. The minions summoned by Jose weren't anything to pity and he felt no worse for tearing them apart.

But, still; Shrimp was waiting for him somewhere.

The dragon slayer let out a roar and swung his hammer around, slamming it into his opponent. "I've spent enough time on you already!" time to give some more worthless Phantoms a turn... Maybe he'd do it while on his way to find the shrimp.

"G-!"

He turned, narrowing his eyes and flicking his ears. "What was that?"

"-eel!"

"Eh..." he was hearing a little voice somewhere in the distance, and it sounded a bit like his name. Damn! He couldn't HEAR anything!

"GAJEEEEEEL!"


	33. Perhaps betrayal

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"SHORTY!?" Gajeel ran through the thickening crowd, trying to find the wounded Levy. He could tell that it wasn't his Levy calling for him, but then they were both his to a certain extent, weren't they? But where was she?

Up ahead, as he turned his attention in front of him, he could see a swirling cloud of black creatures forming a cyclone of darkness. "SHORTY!"

He knew Jose's powers when he saw them; the bastard would pay! What confused him, though, was why someone like Jose would go out of his way to pick out someone like the shrimp; or the shorty. She was so unimportant to someone like him!

The Iron Dragon Slayer took leaps and bounds, using his hammer to pole vault himself almost a hundred yards ahead. When he reached the spiraling cyclone he let out a roar deep in his chest, wondering how he was going to get through the other side; he could smash them away easily but there was no telling whether or not he would hit Levy!

After only a moment of thinking, though, the blackness started to dissipate as the minions flew off to try and destroy the rest of the fairies; there weren't many to go at that point.

"Eh?" Gajeel destroyed a few that flew past him but, as more of the creatures left their swirling post, he could see into the center of the circle. "... JOSE!"

"Well isn't this interesting!" the man sneered, giving Gajeel a once-over. "I'm not sure what I'm seeing but I'm glad I was able to see it!" As far as he knew, Redfox was somewhere in an infirmary recuperating from a brutal attack; and now he was standing right in front of him?

Gajeel wasn't too interested in Jose's amusement or confusion. His attention was centered on the little bluenette at his feet. Her body, crumpled and in obvious pain, slowly shifted, trying to look at him.

"SHORTY!" Gajeel roared, rushing nearer to her.

"No-... n-... no..." she protested, trying to lift herself, "Not... not me..."

"Eh!?" The closer he got to Levy and Jose, though, the more he realized that something was off. "... I don't smell ya," he flicked his eyes to Jose, dropping himself down to Levy's side and lifting her into his arms.

"Don't smell me?" Jose giggled, sneering at how dirty Gajeel sounded.

As the dragon lifted away the past version of his mate, he kept sniffing the air, "I don't smell ya... so yer not really here!" he was using his damn thought projections! "WHERE ARE YA!?"

"Not..." Levy coughed, turning her face into Gajeel's chest, "Me..."

Gajeel felt an icy chill surge through his chest. In his arms was a wounded woman in need of help, but somewhere else was his Shrimp, in real, mortal danger. He couldn't lie to himself – Shrimp was much more important than Shorty. He set the girl down and smoothed her hair away from her face, "Shorty-"

"It's okay," she smiled up at him, "You should go get Levy..." her hand reached up to pat his cheek, "I know that you really love her, and there's only one..."

Only one... that was right. Shorty was just a copy, but if he lost the real Shrimp...

"Yeah," he grinned and bent down to give her a quick kiss on the forehead. He grabbed a nearby rock and reeled it a hundred yards off, sending it into the back of Bisca's head – he could hear her firing a mile away! Hopefully she'd come searching for the thrower and find Levy there. "Sorry, Shorty, I gotta go get my woman!"

* * *

"Solid Script: Storm!" Levy shouted, using her whirlwind to blast away several of Jose'd minions. This situation was bad; she could feel her magic quickly depleting and the most she could muster now was a guard or two, and maybe another storm.

"You're an amusing little character. You're a lot more powerful than your counterpart but I still don't understand why there are two of you... you can't be twins." Shrimp looked a little older than Levy, so it was obvious that they were different people. "Can this somehow be related to there being two Gajeel Redfox's?" he asked curiously, bending himself down a little lower to be able to see her closer.

"Do-... don't talk about him!"

"Why not? He's important to you, isn't he?" Jose sneered, "Your other little blue-haired friend told me all about him!"

"She... she wouldn't do that!" Shrimp shouted confidently, backing away from him as he came closer. Shrimp knew herself, and she knew that Levy would never sell her out to Jose!

"Of course she would... in return for her life she told me all about you. It was very good timing, in fact..."

_Jose had his fist wrapped tightly around Levy's neck, threatening to snap it in half. "I know that you are somehow important to the Iron Dragon," Jose mused. When they had found Gajeel earlier he kept... mumbling something about a little blue-haired solid script mage, and he mentioned the word 'mate' once or twice. Apparently in his half-destroyed state he understood a little more about the relationship between Levy and future self. _

"_No-... not... me..." Levy coughed, blood splattering onto Jose's wrist where he held her. "N-..." _

"_Not you?" Jose blinked, suddenly intrigued. He dropped her down to the ground and watched her regain her breath, though he didn't stop the questions. "If not you, then who?" _

"_Th-... the other one..." Levy gagged, "Other me..." _

"_Another you...?" Jose stroked at his chin, chuckling happily. This was such fun! _

_He might have spent a little more time torturing the girl, but she had to be so stubborn._

"_... GA-... gack, GAJEEL!"_

"_Hmmm?" Jose blinked at her, raising his brow._

"_GAJEEL! GAJEEEEEEEEEEL!"_

_Over the sound of his swarming minions, he could hear a sudden, powerful roaring sound far off in the distance."Pardon me, I do have to be going again." With a quick pop the man disappeared and left in his place a thought projection of himself. He didn't want to face the Iron Dragon Slayer without the proper leverage._

"So you see," Jose concluded, "It is very possible that your... little friend sold you out, and saved her own life by telling me to hunt you down instead."

"No..." Shrimp wouldn't believe it; she would NEVER do something like that to her nakama!

"I think you should believe it," Jose waved his hand through the air in a brilliant gesture, producing a massive explosion against Shrimp's tender belly.

"GYAAA!" the surging power ripped through her organs and sent her rolling several feet away, gasping, panting and choking on her own blood. She was all out of stuff; why did she leave Gajeel's side?

"I need to keep you alive until he gets here," Jose smiled, waving his hand once more to produce a second wave of explosions at the small of her back, hoping to sever a spinal nerve or two. "But I just need to keep you 'living,' and that said nothing about whether or not her body was safe.

"How sad you must be to know that you could be safe right now... if your own counterpart hadn't betrayed you!"

* * *

_Author's Note: _

_Hmmm... I think this particular story will end with around 45-46 chapters; I'm not sure. I feel as though I am rushing the ending but I don't want to drag it on and make my quality suffer for it. I suppose that is the bad news._

_The GOOD news is that I wrote an epilogue, and I'm working on a sequel that will take place many years after this. What is the sequel about, in specific? I am not going to say! But it will be more like a series of one shots about Gajeel and Levy as opposed to the more 'epic' style of this story._


	34. Purr

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

Gajeel left a hundred-yard wide path in his wake as he thundered across the field, blasting himself through the remnants of Jose's minions as though they were nothing more than little puffs of smoke. His roars echoed across all of Magnolia, unable to stop himself from releasing his rage verbally.

Shrimp's scent was getting stronger – he was going in the right direction. What pushed him closer to the edge of madness, however, was that the closer he came to finding his mate the stronger the scent of blood became, and he knew whose blood it was. Jose had better prepare himself for a massacre, because if he dared touch one hair on his little Shrimp's head!

When Gajeel finally reached the scene, he couldn't even begin to count how many hairs had been touched; the girl rolled around on the ground, trying to claw her way across the ground to get away from the Phantom Lord guild master. She seemed not to notice that Gajeel had arrived, which cracked his heart in several places – he was there to save her and she didn't even know it, she didn't have hope!

"SHRIMP!" he had to make himself known, to make Shrimp see that he had finally come for her! "LEVY!"

"Ga-... j-... haaa..." Shrimp gave a bloody, toothy grin over in Gajeel's direction, barely able to see him through her foggy eyes. He was there, though, just like she knew he would be. Finally she let her head hit the ground and her fingers pull away from the dirt; she felt as though she could really rest now...

"Gajeel!" Jose smiled, "It's very good to see you!" he stepped closer to Shrimp, not having been that far away from her in the first place. "Seeing you through a thought projection doesn't do you justice!" he giggled and waved his hand through the air. A purple swirl of dark magic appeared just in front of her belly, the most tender and fragile part of her. For now he was holding his concentration, but if he lost focus then the spell would explode and take the girl with it. "Let's have a chat!"

The Iron Dragon Slayer only grunted, hands bunched down at his sides. His eyes, glowing red, narrowed to stare at Jose. He was barely keeping himself in control – just enough to stop himself from charging at Jose and becoming the reason for Shrimp's death.

"We found Gajeel Redfox in a bit of a state last night and how awed was I to think that there was someone out there who could actually beat him!" Jose chortled, waving one hand in front of his face and tapping his cheek – the other remained in control of the power that threatened to explode Shrimp. "So I got to thinking – if there is someone out there stronger than Gajeel Redfox, then HE is most deserving of a place in Phantom Lord, isn't that right!?"

Gajeel was livid – he was using the Shrimp to get him to join his guild? It was a little ironic in that Gajeel had already left Phantom, and in doing so he had become stronger. Without the Shrimp and the rest of Fairy Tail, he'd never have become as strong as he was. Without the Shrimp...

In his mind's eye, Gajeel got a quick flash of the images and emotions he'd experience were Shrimp to actually die. His head quickly flicked up, giving Jose a look of insanity that made the guild master take a small step back.

"How... dare ya..." Gajeel started, snarling, "I'm gonna show ya... what happens... when ya threaten my woman..."

The icy chill in Jose's stomach made him lose concentration, and the magical power over Shrimp disappeared into nothingness.

Then Jose was on the ground, blood pooling out of every pore in his body. He didn't know how it happened, but Gajeel's speed tore through him like scraps of tissue paper. So fast! In the split second after Shrimp was out of danger, Gajeel unleashed a physical melee on the guild master that turned his body into a massive blur. He wasn't even going to dignify the man by using his Iron Dragon Slayer magic – he was just going to use his fists, and he was going to make it nice and painful.

Jose was a Wizard Saint, and he'd be damned if he didn't attempt to fight back! All the while he used his Dark Explosion and Dark Beam attacks, blasting away at Gajeel's body. Even with his iron scales Gajeel's body started to bruise and bleed, but he seemed not to mind... or even notice.

The Iron Dragon Slayer growled loud and grabbed Jose finally by the face, slamming his back into the ground. "I WANNA WATCH... I WANNA WATCH AS YER LIFE JUST DRAINS AWAY!" he roared in that voice that sounded more like a dragon than a human being.

"Then watch," Jose sneered, hand moving just a little, "As the life drains from hers!"

Gajeel didn't understand what he meant until it was too late. With the last of his magic Jose sent an explosion reeling at Shrimp's crumpled body. The blast sent dirt and debris flying, coating the horrific scene in a hazy dust.

Jose didn't have anything left... and even if he did, he couldn't do anything with it. The dragon's fist implanted itself into his chest, impaling from the top of his body to three inches under the ground before he pulled it out.

No, Shrimp, no! He stood and, in a stumbling run, took off for the place where his poor little Shrimp had been laying. "LEVY!" he shouted, scared enough to call her by name. "LEVY!"

He followed his nose until he came to a little mass on the ground, limbs sprawled out all around her. The dragon whined in his throat like a dog having lost its beloved master; he dropped down to his knees and cautiously reached for her, pulling her as gently as he could into his arms. "Levy," his voice was barely a whisper, afraid that he might somehow hurt her just by speaking. "Levy..."

After several minutes of agonizing silence he felt her stir. One eye opened just enough to look at him and that sweet smile that she always had slowly crept across her face, "Ga-... Gajeel..."

Somewhere in the midst of the carnage, Shrimp felt just enough energy burst into her to allow her one more spell. Just before Jose's explosion hit her, she'd managed to cast a quick Solid Script: Guard. While the guard broke, being of lesser power than Jose's, it managed to pad the bulk of the power, sparing her life.

At her word, Gajeel's eyes snapped open and he grinned back at her, hugging her more firmly to his chest. His head bent down low, nuzzling the tip of his nose against her forehead and stroking her cheek with a hand. A most unusual sound erupted in the back of his throat as Gajeel, the fearsome, terrifying, merciless Iron Dragon Slayer started to purr. It vibrated Shrimp's entire body, burrowing all the way into her bones as the sound itself seemed to soothe and relax her. The Dragon's Purr, arriving only in times of unadulterated happiness, was meant to relax, please and provide a closer bond with his mate.

"Gajeel... you're purring..." Shrimp commented, eyes drooping closed. Now she felt sleepy, so relaxed that her eyelids refused to remain open, "It... it feels... so good... do it more..."

Her dragon complied, using the tip of his nose to trace the lines of her face, planting kisses wherever his lips would reach. All the while his purring echoed loudly through Shrimp's ears, giving her pleasant dreams as she slept in his arms.

* * *

_Author's Note: _

_So there you have it! This ENTIRE FanFiction was based solely on the above scene. I just imagined Gajeel purring out of sheer happiness, and this fiction was born! Everything that I've written up until now is technically just build-up for that... haha! _

_The final chapter count is 45, with an epilogue - so you can think of it as 46. Just about ten more chapters!  
_

_My sequel story (which has not been uploaded yet) currently has 4 chapters, although they're short - little one-shot deals. I'll upload the first chapter of that story on the same day as I post the epilogue. There's lots more to look forward to!  
_


	35. Boobie doobie do!

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

Porlyusica tried for a good deal of time to get Gajeel to leave her be so she could tend to the wounded bluenettes, but there turned out to be no use arguing with a protective, instinctive Dragon Slayer. She let him stay, begrudgingly, but made him sit in the corner and wait for her to finish her business with the girls before she allowed him to go anywhere near them; just being in the room seemed to soothe his violent response to her telling him, 'Get out.'

When the healer left, Gajeel positioned himself between both of their beds and took one hand each, wrapping his large mitts around them and stroking their palms with his thumbs. The two of them looked so fragile there and he felt the intense desire to protect them both, although in the end Shrimp was more important. There was only one of her in the entire world.

"M-... mmhh..."

"Shorty?" Gajeel asked, feeling his breath hitch as the past Levy started to wake up. Neither of the girls had moved for hours, even as they were transported to the safe haven of Fairy Hills, untouched by the disaster. The once girls dorm had been temporarily transformed into a guild hall and infirmary, as none of the members had escaped without damage.

"... Mmmm," Levy opened her eyes finally, giving a happy smile to Gajeel. "Gajeel..."

He grinned and moved his head closer to get a good look at her, "Are ya ok?"

"Yes..." she smiled, "Thank you... for coming for me."

"I told ya that I would, didn't I?" and he hadn't been lying! If she ever called his name and he was around to hear it, he'd be there.

"Yes, but..." beyond Gajeel's massive torso she could see the unconscious body of her other self, and tears formed in her eyes, "I'm so sorry... Gajeel... I'm so sorry... is she okay...?"

"The shrimp is gonna be okay, she's a tough little thing!" Gajeel grinned. Shrimp was unconscious and worse for the wear, but he knew that she would be able to recover from this. Although it was going to make their mission a lot harder...

"I didn't know!" Levy continued to cry, "I didn't know that she'd get hurt that badly, when I told Jose..."

"... Eh?" She did what? Gajeel frowned down at her, pulling away from Shrimp to give a stern look to Shorty. "What're you sayin'?"

"I'm sorry, Gajeel... I just thought... it was my plan... you just love her so much..."

She wasn't making any sense – especially to someone who needed simpler explanations most of the time!

"I- gack, I think I get it..."

"Shrimp!" Gajeel quickly whirled around to face his mate, grabbing her hand and covering her face in little kisses.

"Gajeel..." Shrimp smiled with a little giggle that sent sharp pains throughout her abdomen. "I get it now... Jose is really powerful, isn't he?" she reached a hand up to touch his face, "So she must have told Jose... to come after me... because if he did that, she knew you'd be able to beat him."

"_Now listen. There isn't anything more dangerous than a dragon slayer gone wild after his mate; if anything were to happen to ya when I was like that, I'd hafta obliterate everything in sight... I know I'm bad at explainin' things, so ya know that it's worse than I'm letting on. I'd be willing to bet every scale on my hide that if ya died, I'd even be able to give that damn Dragon of the Apocalypse the spanking of his lifetime just to let out my rage. Just nod yer head if you get it?" _

Even though Gajeel and Shrimp thought that Levy was asleep, she'd been awake and listening in. Shrimp being in danger must unlock some sort of power in Gajeel... power enough to beat Jose and stop the attack from Phantom.

The Iron Dragon Slayer's fists clenched into a tight knot, turning to give Levy a glare. "It was a STUPID THING TO DO!" he growled, snarling in the back of his throat, "Ya don't know what you were thinkin'!"

He felt a little squeeze on his hand and looked back at Shrimp, who just gave him one of her easy smiles and shook her head, "Don't be angry... I'm not angry... it was my decision."

"But-"

"She is me, remember, Gajeel? So that means that I would have done the same thing... I would do anything for my nakama, I would do anything to stop Jose."

Gajeel didn't understand how Shrimp or Levy could accept that; sacrificing either one of themselves, using them to make Gajeel act in the way that he did. Was he just being used as a tool, now?

"Gajeel," Levy whispered, trying to explain, "I know how much you love... Levy. I can see it, and now I think the whole guild can see it." At the very least, it was impossible to ignore that Gajeel was truly on their side. "I knew... that if something happened, you would protect her..."

"It ain't worth sacrificin' yourself for," the dragon persisted, keeping his face down, "And that's all I'm gonna say." He didn't like gambling with his mate's life, even if it was her own decision.

"Gajeel... I'm very tired," Shrimp said softly, tilting her head and closing her eyes, "Will you stay here?"

Damn the woman! He knew that she was just trying to change the subject and release the tension in the room. Levy felt terribly now for what she had done... but she was glad that her future self was on her side.

"I'm gonna stay here."

"Did Porlyusica look at you...?"

"No," Gajeel grunted, "I don't need looking at." He was just fine! He was covered in bruises and splintered debris, yes, but he could heal on his own!

"You should at least rest..." with her weak little arms she gave him a tug, forcing a groan out of the dragon.

He raised himself up and pulled off his shirt to get the dust off of himself, knocked a few pieces of rock out of his hair, then lowered himself down onto the bed beside her. He took care not to jostle or crush her, draping one arm above her head in an arc and turning the rest of his body to face her side. "I'm gonna be right here."

"Okay," Shrimp smiled, leaning her head forward to press it to his shoulder. He smelled like... Gajeel. It was a very 'Gajeeley' smell. She liked it. "Gajeel...?"

"Eh?"

"Do you think you can purr for me?"

"EH!? YA CAN'T JUST ASK ME TO DO THOSE THINGS ON DEMAND!"

"Please?"

Stupid woman! He sighed and tilted his head against hers, trying to purr. He just snorted in her face and she giggled, opening her eyes.

"I don't even know how I did it, Shrimp!"

"That's okay... can you sing?"

Singing!? That's something that he could do!

"Now yer talkin'! Boo, boobee doobie doo, doobie doober boo-boo-boo!"


	36. May I borrow your nose?

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

It was a lot easier for the guild to trust Gajeel after the battle at Phantom. If Gajeel hadn't been there then Levy surely would have died.

However, Gajeel felt an immense guilt in his chest, knowing that, perhaps, Levy and Shrimp had only been in that situation because of him. If he hadn't attacked Redfox and tried to save Levy from him, would things have turned out for the better? The battle would have been more predictable and Shrimp never would have been involved to the extent that she had – the only reason that she had been hunted was because he had displayed his power and made it known to the enemy how important the girl was to him.

"Stop it, Gajeel!" Shrimp frowned, squeezing his wrist, "This wasn't your fault and you know it!"

"I don't know anythin'!"

"You do. What you did, you did because you wanted to protect me. And you did protect me... no matter what you think, you did save me, and I'm going to be just fine." It was the morning after and already she felt better thanks to the wonderful medication of Porlyusica. If only Wendy was there – the Sky Dragon Slayer could surely heal her to a near-perfect state!

Gajeel only grumbled, folding his arms over his chest and turning his face away. He didn't want to feel good and happy like Shrimp usually made him feel – he WANTED to wallow in his self pity to make up for how badly she'd been hurt! All because of him!

"Now don't be like that," Shrimp leaned into him, pressing her cheek to his bicep, "Who's a good dragon?"

"STOP THAT!" he growled, turning red in the face.

"You're a good dragon!"

He grabbed the pillow and pushed it onto her face, trying to shut the woman up. He could hear her muffled giggles underneath the thick upholstered object, obviously finding his flustered demeanor quite amusing.

"Excuse me," a knock on the door pulled both of their attentions away to look at Erza, who stood watching them. "I think it's very important that the two of you come and listen to this."

Did it have anything to do with what their mission was? Shrimp raised her arms and wrapped them around Gajeel's shoulders, letting him lift her easily off of the bed. He held his hands against the least wounded part of her body, cradling her and walking like he was holding a porcelain princess. He focused on not bumping her into anything, afraid that limbs and organs were going to start popping off.

Levy was already in the living room of the once Fairy Hills, having been carried in several hours ago by Elfman – she wanted to see Jet and Droy! The rest of the guild waited with her, offering Gajeel a plush seat so he could sit with Shrimp on his lap.

"What's this about?" Shrimp asked, looking around at everyone's faces. They didn't look so happy; not that they looked angry.

"Mmh," Lucy started, seeming to hesitate. "Well..."

"Lu-chan?" Shrimp tilted her head, "Is something wrong?"

"I think I might have some information about what's gone on, and what's affecting our nakama in the future."

"As do I," Erza added.

"And I,"

"Me too," Gray and Cana added in. It seemed as though several people had seen something or heard of something that might be of use – and the more information the better!

"Tell us!" Shrimp pressed, starting to squirm on Gajeel's lap. She felt his arms tighten, trying to keep her in place so she wouldn't hurt herself... but, damnit, she wanted to know!

"Well," Lucy started, opting to tell the story since she was Levy's closest friend and good at story-telling, "I noticed something weird during the battle... Before I got captured, and while I was in the Phantom guild. While I was fighting I could swear that some of those ghosts that attacked us weren't the same as the others... Just one or two, but they had different cloaks on and they moved more like humans. Then later on when I was in the Phantom guild, Natsu broke a hole in the wall," which wasn't so unusual, "And while he was fighting I was looking out... I could see a few scattered, cloaked figures running around... It was hard to see them from that far but their movements were so different!"

"And," Erza continued, "I noticed something similar. I was battling one of the Element 4 at the time so I could not pay too much attention, but I also noticed that something was off in some of the movements of our enemies."

Gray and Cana were nodding as they, too, discovered similar things.

"I don't know what you're talkin' about!" Natsu punched his fist, "All of the enemies are the same!"

Lucy rubbed the bridge of her nose, sighing, "Natsu, you never pay attention to what you do, anyways!" if something looked like it needed a beating, then he beat it!

The same rule applied to Gajeel as well, given that neither had he seen anything wrong with the ghosts.

"But if those people had anything to do with what happened in the future, then why wouldn't you have already known that?" he asked Shrimp, frowning a little, "Wouldn't someone have noticed it the first time?"

"Not necessarily," Shrimp shook her head. "The last time we had the battle with Phantom Lord, no one knew that anything like that was going to happen... we just thought that we were battling Phantom. Now, though, we all knew to look for something else – even if it was subconsciously. The first time it happened no one noticed because no one assumed that anything would have been wrong." This time they were looking for it.

"Also," the shrimp continued, "The past definitely changed this time around... the battle didn't go anything like it did the first time. The first time, Erza battled Jose... and lost. And in the end, Master had to beat him. Then Natsu beat Gajeel," she felt Gajeel grip her hard, still hating that he let the salamander beat him! "And the war was over. Whatever the enemy's plan was, it must have worked better the first time around."

"But what really bothers me," Lucy tapped her chin, "Is that we still don't know who the enemy is... but, whomever they are, they have to be really powerful and intelligent. They don't have anything to do with Phantom, do they?"

Gajeel shook his head, "Phantom wasn't about all that smart stuff. They just like to crush people." So Phantom wouldn't be capable of pulling that grand of a scheme!

"That means... that whomever it is, they must have been using Phantom. And that means that they must have researched them and found out exactly what Jose can do, dress themselves up like those ghosts, and find the EXACT point and time of attack!" Lucy turned white, feeling very worried.

"It's alright, Luce!" Natsu grabbed her from behind, "We'll protect you!"

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" she shoved his head back, "What are we going to do!?"

"We'll need someone to track them," Erza began with the obvious. "If we had anything that belonged to them, then we can have Natsu and Gajeel track them down, but I'm sure that no one has anything that had to do with them."

"Wait!" Shrimp called, sitting up a little more on Gajeel's lap, "They all put spells on us, right? That means that they all must have gotten close to us at one point... so they touched all of us at least once; is it possible for either of you to smell if there's a particular scent that all of us have?"

"Ehh..." Gajeel rubbed his head, "It'll be hard with all of the blood." Blood had an individual scent, but it also had a 'back-taste' that tasted all the same, so everyone smelled like blood which made that even harder.

"It won't be hard for ME!" Natsu challenged, feeling like he'd been cheated out of his Boss Battle. If his original self got to prove his strength and defeat the Iron Dragon Slayer, why couldn't he!? In a show of superiority, he started to run around the room, sniffing everyone.

"NATSU!" Lucy shrieked as he stuffed his nose between her breasts.

"Luce... something on you smells really good!"

Everyone visible cringed at the harsh slapping sound that followed, even though it didn't deter Natsu from continuing on to the next person.

"OH YEAH!?" Gajeel growled, standing up with the little bundle in his arms. He set Shrimp down on the seat, making sure she was comfortable before he followed the Fire Dragon Slayer's lead and started smelling people – against their will.

When Natsu approached Levy, Gajeel grabbed the back of his scarf and lifted him into the air like a hangman game, "YA GONNA SMELL MY WOMAN!?"

"Well you smelled LUCE!"

"THAT AIN'T THE SAME!"

"OH YEAH!?"

"Oh my..." Shrimp sighed, watching the two of them crash through the wall into the back courtyard of Fairy Hills. It seemed as though Natsu was going to get his Boss Battle, after all!

"They're going to take a while," Erza sat down, crossing her legs, "So we'll have to wait for them to finish. Would anyone like to make the tea?"

"I'll get it!" Mirajane smiled, heading over to the kitchen area to act as barmaid, without a bar.

"Do we have any of those little sandwiches left?"

"And where's my booze!?"

"Cana, Porlyusica said that you shouldn't drink on that medication!"

"She also said I shouldn't drink and have sex but that's NEVER stopped me!"

No one was going to get anywhere, at this rate, so Shrimp did the most practical thing that she could do. She tilted her head back, closed her eyes, and took a little nap in the middle of the screaming, fighting, and general rabble.


	37. Salty sweet

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"It's sweet.

"It's SALTY."

"No, I said it's SWEET!"

"SALTY!"

"YA WANNA FIGHT, SALAMANDER!?" Gajeel grabbed the Fire Dragon Slayer by his scarf, tugging him up off of the ground, "THE SMELL IS SWEET!"

"SALTY!" Natsu bellowed, thrusting the ball of his foot up into Gajeel's chin.

Before a fight could break out, each of them were grabbed by a massive, firm hand, pulled away from one another. "Stop it you BRATS!" Makarov shouted, sounding irritated.

The two slayers fell limp, still muttering under their breath that they thought it was salty or sweet, respectively.

"Let us agree that it smells both salty and sweet, yes?" Erza offered, crossing her legs and inspecting the dragon slayers who had been fighting for hours about what the particular scent was like.

"And," Gajeel added, "Also smells like the ocean."

"No, it smells like a POND!"

"OCEAN!"

"POND!"

"It smells sweet and salty, like an ocean and a pond," Erza concluded, shaking her head. "But because we all have our own individual scents, we shouldn't ignore the possibility that one or both of them are wrong."

"You know what I smell?" Happy fluttered over Natsu, landing on his head and taking a big sniff, "I smell fish!"

"Now's not the time for that!" Gajeel growled. Couldn't he ever stop thinking about fish!?

"HEY!" Natsu kicked around in Makarov's hand, trying to defend his friend, "If Happy says he smells fish, THEN HE SMELLS FISH!"

"That's right! And it's all over everyone!" Happy started licking the side of Natsu's face, trying to get the flavor off. "Mmm! I've never had this kind of fish before!"

"Then it's settled!" Natsu's demeanor turned dark, "The enemy that we're looking for, the one that has been injuring and cursing our nakama... IS A FISH!"

"YEAH!" Happy pumped his fist into the air, "I'LL DEFINITELY TAKE CARE OF IT!"

"WE'RE BOTH FIRED UP!"

Each of them took a mild blow to the head by one Erza, wielding a chair leg as a club, "The enemy is not a fish, but they are probably around an aquatic area where fish are common."

"Excuse me!"

Everyone turned to look at Shrimp who had just woken up from her nap. No one touched her as she slept, not wanting to awaken her; although if she could sleep through a proper brawl, she could probably sleep through anything.

"SHRIMP!" Gajeel squealed, squirming around until Makarov released his grip on the dragon slayer. He rushed over to Shrimp and lifted her up into his arms, huggling her tightly and nuzzling the side of her head.

"Awww, that's so cute," Natsu grinned, "Ohhh! Ohhh!" he and Happy started nuzzling one another, making kissy faces and bumping heads, "Happy you're my sweet little cuddle pie!"

"I like pie!" Happy purred back, hugging Natsu.

The two of them were struck by a projectile side table as Gajeel growled at them both, then sat down with Shrimp on his lap. "Now what was that, Shrimp!?"

"Well," she tried to gather her thoughts for a moment, "When you guys say salty, and ocean, it obviously means the ocean, right? But since Natsu says it smells like a pond, then it might be a place where an ocean meets fresh water. Beside Magnolia is the forest and on the other side is Akane Beach. Along the shore is a place where the pond in the forest meets the ocean, which might account for the water being both pond-like and ocean-like, AND salty!"

"But what about the sweetness that Natsu smells?" Lucy asked, rubbing her chin.

"It might not mean anything," Shrimp shook her head, "Because humans all have a natural sweetness and it might be just that... or, maybe we don't have any information yet. But either way, Gajeel and I are going to go to Akane Beach and look around!"

"You won't go alone," the Titania stood up, brandishing her sword, "We are all Fairy Tail members here, and you are still wounded. I will go with you."

"Luce and I will go, too!"

"DON'T GO VOLUNTEERING FOR THINGS WITHOUT PEOPLES' PERMISSION!"

"Well don't you wanna go, Luce?"

"...Yeah," Lucy consented with a smile, "We'll definitely go!"

"Thank you, guys!" Shrimp started tearing up, "Thank you so much!" her friends were all here for them!

"You don't need to thank us, Levy-chan," Lucy smiled, "We're all your friends!" Even though Gajeel and Shrimp were from the future, they weren't any less friends!

"We'll have to make a trek through the forest, but in the interest of speed we should take carriages," Erza noted, standing, "I'll go rent them now."

"Urk..."

"No... NATSU, NO!" Lucy shrieked, watching his face turn green at the thought of transportation.

Shrimp started to giggle at poor Natsu, but then she noticed that her own dragon slayer was moving uncomfortable beneath her. "... No."

"..."

"No... no, no, no, NO, NO, NO NONONONO! GAJEEEEEL!"

* * *

"This is definitely the smell!" Natsu and Gajeel both remarked, taking the scent into their noses. This is definitely what they smelled on the members!

"And Happy?" Erza asked the cat, watching him flutter around the air, "I smell lots of fish here!" he smiled, licking his lips. "I'll go find them, definitely!" and once he found them, snack time!

Shrimp hobbled along behind Gajeel, supported by his strong arm. He insisted that she let him hold her, but she didn't want to seem TOO dependent.

"We should check everywhere," Lucy started pulling off her clothing.

"Hey Lucy, what are those?"

"STOP LOOKING, NATSU!" she shrieked, turning her back to him so she could get down to her bathing suit. "If they smelled the ocean then we should check over there, too!"

"SWIMMING!"

"Beach vacation!" Happy made little nose dives into the water, splashing himself all about.

"I guess I'll stay up here..." Shrimp smiled, rubbing her wrists hesitantly. She couldn't go swimming in this kind of state, as much as she thought it might be fun to go wading around in the cool, dark water!

"Then I'll stay here, too!" Gajeel smirked proudly, throwing his chest out.

"That's right, you don't want to ruuuuust!" Natsu teased, lifting Lucy into the air and throwing her several feet away into the ocean.

"WHAT WAS THAT!?"

Shrimp just smiled, resting the side of her head against Gajeel's arm. "Gajeel... I hope we find what we're looking for..."

"Don't worry, Shrimp!" he looked down at her with a wide, confident smile, "Fairy Tail can't lose!"


	38. Saddle up!

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"Hey! Hey! Over here!" Lucy waved her arms through the water, trying to get Gajeel and Shrimp's attention. "Come over here! I think we found something!"

Gajeel lifted Shrimp up, letting her sit on his back as he waded slowly through the water to get closer to them. "Eh? What is it?"

"Natsu's down there right now, he's says that he can see something!"

"I also see something," Erza waded by Lucy, "But Natsu's eyes are better; we'll wait for him to come back."

The Fire Dragon Slayer resurfaced a moment later, brushing the hair out of his face, "There's definitely something down there! It's like an underwater building!"

"DO FISH LIVE THERE!?" Happy asked, producing a fork and a knife, presumably from the air.

"I don't know what lives there," Natsu frowned, looking determined, "But whatever is down there, it DEFINITELY has something to do with what happened to all of us!" It was much too suspicious NOT to have anything to do with it, and now that he was back on the surface he could certainly smell something very familiar.

"Then let's go; everyone take a deep breath and propel yourselves down below," Erza instructed, following her own lead and dipping below the water.

Lucy followed, grasping Natsu's hand so he could help tug her down. Happy held onto Lucy's foot, holding one hand over his nose; STINKY!

"... Gajeel... go on ahead." Shrimp looked down, tears welling in her eyes.

"Eh!?"

"I can't go down there... I can't swim like this... so you just leave me here and go on by yourself..."

Gajeel started walking to the shore and, at first, Shrimp thought he was actually going to leave her behind. She wouldn't have blamed him, but it just seemed so much more real that... she was useless here. He set her down on the sand and righted himself, producing a technique that she hadn't seen since the time that he crucified her to that tree.

He worked with his arms, using several metal shackles, bolts and pipes out of the iron in his arms to create something that... looked... sort of like...

"A SADDLE!?"

"I seen people use these before!"

"THOSE ARE FOR BABIES!" It was a baby backpack that mothers would use to carry around their infant young!

"GIHI! If it's good enough for some lady's baby it's good enough for mine!" he hooked it around his back and lifted a kicking, screaming, protesting little Shrimp, fishing her legs through the foot holes and fastening her firmly to him.

"Are ya ready?"

"I'm not talking to you."

"Then let's go!"

* * *

The five dripping, gasping guild members hunched over, falling to their knees. If the base had been any deeper down then they'd never have been able to make it; once they got to a certain point, though, they passed through a magical bubble that served as a producer of oxygen for the people down below.

"This is clever," Erza straightened, requipping back into her armor. "If we hadn't been looking for this place, we would have never found it."

"It's because of you two," Shrimp smiled to Natsu and Gajeel.

"Hey!" Happy crossed his arms, pouting.

"And you, Happy!" Lucy patted his head, "You're the one who recognized the fish smell!"

"I smell it now too, though," Erza tilted her nose up to sniff the air.

Everyone seemed to consider this, then followed Erza's gesture and started sniffing.

"Ew!" Lucy clasped a hand to her nose, while Shrimp buried her face in Gajeel's shoulder.

"The hell is that!?" Gajeel snarled, both he and Natsu reeling from the stench; their noses were much more sensitive, after all.

"Mmmmm!" Happy started rubbing his belly, flicking his tail around, "What a great smell!"

It was a very sweet smell, but almost sickeningly so. The intensity of the aroma was almost tangible, entering their noses like a wad of cotton trying to penetrate their pores. It was enough to water their eyes and give them almost a flavor of fish on their tongues.

"You may lead the way then, Happy," Erza, having wrapped a blindfold around her face, stood behind Happy for him to lead the way.

Shrimp removed her headband and wrapped it around her nose to block out the scent, while Gajeel took off his own headband and fastened it similarly.

Natsu, in a theft-like manner, used his scarf to bind up his entire head.

"Whad aboud be?" Lucy asked, pinching her nose.

Shrimp produced a second 'emergency' bandana for her friend, letting her wrap herself up before they pressed on.

Happy lead them through a maze of a building with twists and turns leading to more... twists and turns. Without Happy they'd be hopelessly lost, but a cat driven by the scent of fish was a hell of a guide. Eventually they came to a large set of glass doors, fogged up from the inside. Beyond that, though, they could see shadows of moving figures weaving in and out of themselves.

Erza crouched low, pressing her ear to the door. There were definitely people in there... When she straightened herself again, she turned to her comrades and opened her mouth to explain the next step.

"ROOOOHHHHH!" Natsu's fist flew by her face and crashed into the glass doors, shattering them and splintering the adjacent walls.

"NATSU!" Erza growled, drawing her sword and entering the room to block any oncoming attack. The idiot! They had the element of surprise and he destroyed it!

"Who the hell are you people!?" Natsu demanded, eyes flicking indiscriminately across the room.

It was massive, half the size of the entire base. White tables lined the walls with jars and test tubes and, directly across the door, was a large tank of brightly colored, purple fish.

The people in the room, ten thin men in lab coats, stopped their progress and turned to face the guild.

"Fairy Tail," one of them spoke, sounding monotone and bored, "It's... very surprising that you are here. We took the most extreme precautions to hide ourselves."

"It WORKED!" Shrimp spoke out, coming out from behind Gajeel, "It worked, but now you can't hide! We know what you've done!"

The girl made no sense; several of the scientists looked at one another then back at the girl.

"You may call me... X," the monotone man drolled, setting down a vial, "And I feel as though you should know that we have sounded the alarms... and our army is on its way."


	39. The Heir

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"Tell us who you are, and what you want with Fairy Tail!" Shrimp did her best to sound intimidating, but it was rather difficult when the majority of her body was covered in bandages.

In the background, a full scale battle had broken out. Gajeel fought several enemy soldiers in the main laboratory, where Shrimp was interrogating X. The rest of her friends had long since been taken out of the room, following their opponents to various parts of the base.

True to what Lucy, Erza and the others saw during the battle at Fairy Tail, the soldiers were all cloaked in dark capes, moving like the ghosts that Jose had created.

"I don't see how that would make any difference," X stated, calmly sitting in front of Shrimp. He made no moves to resist against her since he was merely a scientist – couldn't fight, himself, and if he made the wrong move he assumed the Iron Dragon would tear his head off. Not that he didn't already have a reason to. "After all, our plan has already been accomplished and I am sure that you have no idea what will happen to you." They couldn't know that, in just a year's time, they would all fall to the poison.

Behind Shrimp, the noise of battle ended as Gajeel finished with the last man. Her dragon cracked his neck and materialized behind his mate, slapping a hand on her shoulder, "Ya better listen," his eyes flashed red, "Because I'm runnin' out of patience!" he grabbed X by the scruff of his shirt, lifting him several inches off of the ground.

X winced, grabbing onto Gajeel's wrist, "Y-You would not harm me!"

"Wouldn't I?" Gajeel sneered up at him, "If ya say that nothing can be done, then it doesn't really matter what I do to ya, right?"

"I didn't say that!" he panted, feeling his blood run cold under the fear.

"Then get talkin'," Gajeel threw the man back down onto the chair. "Let's start with yer name. Who ya are, and why yer doin' this."

"My name is... Perviatus," he eyed the two cautiously, "My father's name was Pervius."

"So yer like..." Gajeel rubbed the back of his neck, "Perv, Heir To The Perv!"

"DO NOT RIDICULE MY FATHER!"

"I'm gonna call ya Perv."

"YOU WILL DO NO SUCH THING!"

"I don't think ya got a choice," Gajeel reiterated, eyes going dark, "Ya only answered half my question anyways, Perv."

Shrimp almost sympathized with the man; she knew how much Gajeel loved his nicknames! She couldn't bring herself to care too much, though, since the man had done horrible things to her nakama.

"What else did you want to know?" Perviatus whispered between gritted teeth, clearly infuriated.

"What is it that ya want with Fairy Tail?"

"They killed my father!"

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" Shrimp shouted despite herself. Her fists were bunched up menacingly, almost wanting to... to punch that man right in his stupid face! "Fairy Tail would NEVER kill anyone!"

"YOU TELL THAT TO MY DEAD FATHER!" Perv shouted, leaning forward in his chair. "Three years ago my father was a part of a scientific team researching the Gelupa fish. He discovered what was considered to be the greatest breakthrough of the time... but one of our competitors, enraged that he had advanced farther than he, decided to send a guild after him! He made a crazy story about how my father had stolen his work and how he needed to get it back! Fairy Tail answered his call and came to my father's laboratory, and stole all of his work! After that... my father was crushed; his will to love was destroyed and he died just a year later, broken-hearted over the loss of his work."

Gajeel and Levy were silent for a few moments, seeming to assess the situation. Shrimp was the first one to speak, finally, eying the man, "That's not true. No one from Fairy Tail would take on any job unless they knew that it was the right thing to do!" only the dark guilds took jobs that had to do with stealing without a just reason. Lucy and Natsu took on a job to steal a book, but the book was a stolen item in the first place and they needed to bring justice to the man who'd been stolen from!

"IT IS TRUE!" Perviatus assured them, face going red with anger, "Whether or not you wish to believe it, that is what happened! You, being a member of Fairy Tail, you will ALWAYS be blind to the truth!"

"No," a fourth voice called in from the doorway. In stepped the Titania, sheathing her sword by her side.

"Erza!" Shrimp gasped, "Where are Natsu? And Lucy?"

"They are still fighting, but I'm glad that I got here when I did. I was the one that took that mission 3 years ago, I was the one who stole your father's work."

"Erza..." Shrimp looked surprised, while Gajeel remained more stoic.

"It's true that I took on the mission, but the mission wasn't what you are saying it is," the Titania frowned disapprovingly, "You don't know what really happened."

"Stop it!" Perviatus held his hands over his ears, clenching his eyes shut tightly and rocking himself back and forth, "I'm not going to listen to you spew lies about my father, I'm not going to listen to you!"

"You will listen!" Erza's voice turned stern and commanding, forcing him to open his eyes and stare at her. "You will listen to what I have to say! You have attacked my guild, the worst possibly guild to have angered, and you have done so for a purpose that does not stand to reason! Three years ago I took on a job as an S-Class wizard to investigate a scientific investigation that, upon completion, could endanger hundreds of lives. At the time the Gelupa fish had been recently discovered as a new species. Your father was at the forefront and, through his research, found that the fish had several... potentially fatal properties. He began testing on human subjects and claimed that, had he more subjects to experiment on, he could discover a new medicinal cure for several diseases using the fish's poisonous blood.

"The Magic Council feared Pervius' discoveries would have a rippling effect on the world given the nature of its poison, wanted to stop him. However, the Magic Council did not want to make itself known, so they sent several agents to pose as a competitor company and called in guild members for the job. They released no information as to who they were but I knew that they were Council agents... I said nothing of this, though.

I took the job because I did not want the information to fall into the wrong hands. However, it still stands that your father's work was stolen not because a competitor company wanted his discoveries, but because he was a threat to all of Fiore and the Magic Council needed to ensure that Pervius was not a danger... which he was."

"Why was the Magic Council involved in this?" Shrimp asked. If Pervius was not a mage then he shouldn't have been watched by the council!

"Because!" here, Erza drew her sword and pointed it into Perviatus' face, "Your father was conspiring with Dark Guilds, planning to sell them the Gelupa poison in return for protection and a percentage of their profits!"

"NO!" Perviatus stood, grabbing his chair and launching it at Shrimp. Even though she ducked, it was caught easily by Gajeel who cracked it in a hand and let it tumble back down to the ground.

"Listen here," Gajeel reached out with his hand, gripping the man's neck, "Ya've done enough, and ya don't EVER HURT MY GIRL!" his face inched closer to Perviatus until their noses were touching, "Now yer gonna be a good boy and tell me how to help my nakama... or I'll have the Shrimp here find out for herself, THEN WE WON'T BE NEEDIN' YA!" With her gale force reading glasses, and between her and Lucy's intelligence, the two of them could read through his files and find a cure!

"So, what's it gonna be?" Gajeel snarled, watching the man's eyes flicker with fear. "What's it gonna be?"


	40. I dub you!

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"So that's where the sweet smell came from!" Gajeel grinned, slamming his forehead against Natsu's, "I TOLD YA!"

Happy fluttered over the tank of fish, taking deep whiffs of it, "So sweet! So sweet!"

"The flavor is sweet but it's actually very poisonous," the bluenette recounted, leaning to look down at the beautiful fish as they swam back and forth underneath the ravenous cat. "It was actually very creative... and clever. If we didn't have Ultear to help us, then I don't think we'd ever have figured out what had happened to our guild."

"It's funny, though, I didn't notice a thing on the battlefield!" Lucy looked all around herself, almost expecting to see some of the poison on her. "But I guess that's the way that they planned it out..."

Hidden amongst Jose's ghost army, Perviatus' men were able to unleash the poison on the Fairy Tail members in the form of a mist. In such small amounts, and amongst the heat of battle, the scent would be completely masked. The strength of the fish's poison, however, was such that even the smallest drop would immobilize the person affected. It was very easy, then, to hide their methods and means amongst the craze of war.

"What I find rather resourceful, though, is the use of time magic to suspend the effects of the poison," Erza furrowed her brow. "To think that they could have used magic on the poison to put a delay of YEARS on it..." the spell coated the poison, unleashing the fish blood only when the spell wore off.

"But I don't understand," Levy turned to look at Perviatus, huddled in the corner. The man looked worn and defeated; his plan... it was supposed to be perfect! "You know that the fish blood wouldn't really kill us, at least not immediately, so why didn't you use something else?" the fish blood completely paralyzed the person for an indefinite period of time but, as Levy and Gajeel had found out, it didn't kill them.

"No, it makes sense," Erza shook her head, "He would want to take out his revenge on Fairy Tail using the very research that his father discovered; he turned his reasons into a weapon."

"And," Gajeel's eyes flashed a deep red, "It's more painful that way. If ya really wanna torture someone ya don't kill them... ya try and keep them alive for as long as ya can." It would have been easy to kill all of Fairy Tail using a method like this, but it was more torturous to let them watch their friends drop one by one, unable to bring them back, letting their bodies slowly rot away without the ability to feed themselves. They'd spend the rest of their conscious lives trying to bring their friends back, only to one day drop to their knees and succumb to the same fate.

Shrimp noticed that Gajeel wasn't looking at her; he didn't like her knowing how good he was at torturing people. She knew first hand, of course, but he didn't like to remind her of it – as he just did.

"It's okay," Shrimp whispered, reaching for his hand and giving it a little squeeze. Her head bumped against his shoulder, pressing as tightly against him as her wounds would allow.

"... Yeh, let's just all go back," Gajeel reached down and lifted Shrimp into his arms, cradling her back and forth. "We're all wet." And they had to go back into the water to get up to the surface! They'd all be lucky if they didn't catch a cold.

"We'll take him with us," Erza lifted Perviatus off of the ground by the back of his shirt, as the man didn't seem to have the mental capacity to walk on his own. "Just in case."

"No, leave him here!" Shrimp asked, eyes going softer, "He can't hurt any of us now... it's already too late for that." The only people he could hurt would be Levy and Gajeel, and they had just a day left before they got sent back.

"... Fine," the Titania dropped Perviatus down to the ground, narrowing her eyes at him, "If you ever try to attack Fairy Tail again, next time you will not be so lucky."

Perviatus watched the mages leave, curling himself up into a ball. Fairy Tail certainly was powerful; a lot more so than he'd given them credit for.

* * *

"Yer cold," Gajeel rubbed his hands up and down Shrimp's arms, feeling the little goosebumps underneath his rough fingers. They'd gotten back some time ago, back to their little hotel room, but she still felt cold.

"I'll be okay," she shook her head, tilting her head into his chest and closing her eyes, "Can we just go to sleep?"

"If ya say so..." the dragon closed his eyes, releasing a sigh.

"Gajeel?"

"Yeah, Shrimp?"

"Keep your hands to yourself."

"But yer gonna be asleep!"

"That makes it even worse!"

"But-!"

"Gajeeeeelllll..."

He pulled his hands back to her arms and frowned, "Fine, but yer gonna add another two days onto that 'week of fun-time' ya promised me."

"Just one day."

"TWO!"

"One day, and I'll let you play 'find the butterknife' just once."

"GIHI! IT'S A DEAL!"

Gajeel was so easy for her to manipulate... but one of the most endearing parts of him was that he would never bow down to her if he truly didn't believe in something. She wasn't sure if she really wanted someone who wouldn't be able to stand up for his own convictions; but then that really did make him a Fairy Tail mage, didn't it?

"Gajeel?" Shrimp whispered, looking up to see him pop one eye open and look down at her.

"Eh?"

"Why did you apologize to Levy?"

"_I know ya forgive me... in the future, and maybe ya forgive me now, but I gotta get it out of my head what I did. I can apologize as many times as I want for what I did to the shrimp, but all those scars and bruises went away already so I don't think it would mean much, cus I always feel guilty but sometimes I forget what I feel guilty for. Now I remember." An apology wouldn't be as significant if the event had long-since passed, right? "I know this whole thing is crazy, but while I'm here I want ya to listen up real close," his face became serious and he grabbed her shoulders, bringing his face closer, "If anything ever happens, if ya ever need me, I want ya just to scream my name as loud as ya can. I'll come for ya, and I'll keep ya safe. Ok?" _

"Huh? Oh... that," he grinned, "I knew ya were listening to me!" Shrimp just smiled, knowing that she was caught anyways. "But if ya were listenin' in, then you know why I was apologizing." He was apologizing to Shorty because he never got a chance to do it when she was wounded.

"What I meant was," she shifted, rolling onto her belly and resting her arms on his chest, "Why you were apologizing at all... you know that what happened back then, I don't hate you for it. Sometimes I think about it, but then I look at you and I see how much you've changed. It's like you're two completely different people... I don't want you to live like this, always feeling guilty and regretful."

"Shrimp," he ruffled his hands in her hair, giving her a winning smile, "I'll stop feelin' guilty and regretful, when I feel that I've suffered as much as I made you suffer."

"But," she whispered, swatting his hand away, "The amount of pain that I felt... it's really nothing compared to the amount of happiness that you give me now."

"Now yer just bein' mushy!"

"IT'S TRUE!"

"Gihi! Okay, Shrimp," he held her nose between his fingers, shaking her head back and forth.

"I duv you Gadeel!" she whined with her nose clamped shut.

"I duv you too, Shrib!"


	41. Little hands and feet

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"Good bye, everyone!" Shrimp smiled, waving her hands. She was sitting on Gajeel's forearm, leaning her back against his chest as he held her upright to get her a little higher; she'd sit on his shoulder if she had the balance, but as her ribs still hurt her she didn't trust herself not to topple over.

"Good bye, Levy!" several guild members waved back, sniffling as they watched her leave. Even her own counterpart was crying, waving from a table top where she watched Gajeel intently. She was so happy that she got to meet that man...

"Gajeel!"

"Eh?" the dragon looked down at Makarov, standing at his feet.

"Gajeel, a long while ago – for you – I made the decision to take you in as a member of this guild... apparently! And I know that I made the right choice. Wherever you're going and whatever is going to happen to the guild, I feel very good knowing that we've added more members like you."

"OLD MAN!"

"Gajeel, are those tears!?" Shrimp asked, reaching up to paw at his face.

"IT'S NOTHIN'!" he swatted her hands away with one of his enormous mitts, holding her up with the other, "I just got somethin' in my eye!"

"Awww!" Shrimp threw her arms over Gajeel's shoulders just in time to see her hands start to fade away. Her timing was perfect! "It's time, Gajeel!"

"Alright," he grinned, holding her more firmly, "I'll seeya on the other side, Fairies!"

"Stay good, BRATS!"

As Gajeel and Shrimp faded away back through the time portal, Levy could swear she heard Makarov shout 'And stop costing me money!'

* * *

Ultear focused her energy on the portal, watching a light slowly form in the middle of the floor.

"The curtains! Throw up the curtains!" Lucy shouted, pointing to Gray and Natsu as the pair righted several screens around the light.

At last there was a large blast of yellow light, a tiny pop, and then silence...

"Gajeel?"

"Yeah?"

"I think we're in the wrong place!" This looked nothing like the guild!

"Levy-chan!?" Lucy called from outside the screens.

"LU-CHAN!? Where are we!"

"We put up curtains this time!" Lucy smiled, "Just in case... you know..." Just in case they came back in the nude again.

Meanwhile, poor Jet and Droy were in the back, sobbing and putting away their film. Missed opportunities!

"It's okay, guys!" Levy smiled, pulling back a screen and stepping out with Gajeel, "We came back with everything we had on before."

Gajeel tilted his nose up into the air, took a deep whiff, and grinned, "Not everything..."

"Huh?" Levy shifted then gasped and took a peek down her skirt, "AHH!" Nothing but skin!

While Gajeel licked his lips, Levy walked past him, stumbling just a little, "C-... Can I see Wendy?" she asked, giving a sheepish smile, "I'll be okay, but..." but she needed to be healed, after having waited several days for it.

"I'm here!" Wendy pushed through the crowd of people, making a bee-line for Levy, "Levy-chan, what happened to you!"

As the rest of the guild started to notice Levy's beaten condition, people started to swarm around her, expressing their worries and concerns over her health.

"Gajeel, you promised to protect her!" Lucy scolded, confronting him with a look of fury in her eyes, "And you send her back like this!?"

"I did everything I could!" he nudged her aside to lift his Shrimp up into his arms so he could take her to a private room with Wendy.

The Sky Dragon Slayer followed after them, riding on Gajeel's heels. "What happened?"

"Oh, I had a fight with Jose!" Levy smiled, looking much too modest for someone who had fought the man and survived.

"JOSE!?" several members of the guild screamed, following after them. They were trying to be discreet but of the many Fairy Tail talents, discretion was hardly one.

"She was great!" Gajeel grinned, looking happy for a few moments before his eyes went dark. He got that murderous flash on his face, thinking of what Jose had done to his little shorty! "She stood there and threw every spell she had at him! NOW GO AWAY!" He slammed the door behind him, shutting the two in with Wendy. Levy needed her space!

"I'll heal you right up, okay?" Wendy smiled, patting a bed for her to lay down on. Gajeel set her down and loomed over her the entire time.

* * *

"The cure is in the fish eggs." Now healed, Levy took her place back up on Gajeel's shoulder, looking down at the rest of her guild and relaying their findings to her friends. "When the Gelupa fish eggs are fertilized they automatically make an antidote to the poison – that way the babies aren't affected by it. If we can find the fish and the eggs, we can make a cure for everyone."

Erza, hunched over and shaking her head, still had an infuriated aura around her body, "I can not believe... that I did not see this before."

"No one blames you, Erza," Gray leaned back, arms folded across his chest. "Your mission was years ago, and no one would have thought that anything like this could have happened."

"I should have thought it!" she raised her head, clenching her fists. "Let me go. Levy, Gajeel, you two have done enough for this guild in the past few weeks – this is my fault for not having taken better care of the situation back when I took on the mission. Allow me to hunt down the fish, and Perviatus." In this time span, the man was still at large; she needed to find him, and play a little 'convincing.'

"He was stationed under water," Gajeel grunted, "But there's no saying that he's still there. After the mission was completed, he probably left and went somewhere else."

"I will find him!" Erza pushed through her crowd, "And I will go alone."

"Hey!" Natsu gritted his teeth together, fists clenched, "I want to go with you!"

A sword pointed itself at his neck; at the other end, the Titania gave him a look of death, "Let me repent for my mistakes."

Lucy rocked a mug of hot chocolate back and forth, sitting uneasily on her couch between Natsu and Happy. "It's been hours since Erza left," she sighed, "I feel badly that no one went with her."

"Erza feels that she needs to do this alone, and if it's what she really wants then she should do it!" Natsu smiled, trying to sound supportive. In reality he just didn't want to be sliced into Natsu-cubes by the scarlet woman's blade.

"Still! We're all nakama here," she sighed, "She shouldn't feel like she has to do it by herself... In a few days, we should go after her and make sure that everything went alright."

"Great idea, Luce!"

* * *

It was dark, several hours after everyone had left the guild. As usual, Natsu followed Lucy home and invaded her personal space.

"Natsu, I don't think that's the best idea; heating it up like that... And besides, I-" before Lucy could finish, a knock at the door interrupted her. There were only two loud thumps, then she sound of footsteps trudging quickly away.

"Hold on!" Lucy set down her mug and walked over to the door, opening it. No one was there... "That's weird," she frowned, casting her eyes down. "... NATSU!" she shrieked, eyes going wide, "Natsu come HERE!"

"What is it, Luce!?" he rushed over, leaning over her shoulder to look.

"It's..." Lucy knelt down and wrapped her hands around a basket. It was small and full of blankets, a little bundle of heat, "It's... a baby! Someone left a baby!"


	42. Counter attacks

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"It's a baby, Natsu!" Lucy gasped, slowly peeling back the little yellow blanket that held together the bundle at her feet.

Beady red eyes stared up at Lucy from inside the basket, looking very displeased. The bundle shifted, slowly standing up and reaching to tear off the bonnet on its head.

"LILY!?" both Lucy and Natsu jumped back, watching the Exceed crawl out of the basket, taking with him a little note.

"I was instructed to give you this," he sighed, jumping out of his makeshift bed and tossing the note at Lucy. He grabbed his yellow blanket and invited himself into Lucy's apartment, disappearing into her kitchen.

"_We are unable to care for him at this time, so please watch over our little Lily until we can accept him into our home again!_

_Sincerely, a loving mother and I AIN'T SIGNING THIS SHIT" _

"Lily!" Lucy stood up, following the cat into her apartment, "I don't understand!"

"I've been kicked out of the apartment; they desire privacy and I'm not so sure I want to be there, anyways."

Lucy flushed red, laughing nervously, "O-... Oh... I see..."

Natsu scratched the side of his head, "Luce, I don't get it."

"Nevermind, Natsu."

"But Lucy-!"

"NEVERMIND IT!"

Lily jumped up onto one of Lucy's kitchen tables and wrapped himself up in his blanket, tucking his head under his arms like a pillow and falling into a gentle sleep.

If Lucy had to unwillingly accept another house guest, at least it was someone like Lily who was comparatively polite and non-invasive...

* * *

"I feel a little badly for what we did to Lily..."

"He'll be fine! He's my cat, and my cat's the BEST cat!"

"Do you think he's mad at us?"

"Nah! He doesn't wanna be in here once we get started! Besides, Lily ain't that kind of a person."

* * *

"Lily?" Lucy poked her head into the kitchen in the middle of the night, watching a black figure walk around her table, "What are you doing?"

He turned to her with a harsh glare and a look of determination, "Plotting my counter-attack."

* * *

Gajeel panted, sweat dripping down his back and hair sticking to the sides of his face. "Haaahh, haaahh," he breathed, head bobbing back and forth.

"Is that it, Gajeel?"

He flicked his eyes to his little lover, giving her a small nod.

"And no one's going to be able to come in here?"

He gave her an affirmative grunt, turning his attention back to the door; or what had once been a door. There were 10 layers of metal lining the door and another several layers around every wall of his apartment. The smell might have been intoxicating to him if it hadn't been for the scent of his own mate, filling his nostrils.

It had taken him a while but finally he'd made sure that absolutely no one would be able to enter that apartment and disturb their goings-on!

"Gajeel?" Levy whispered, holding onto his wrist.

"Yeh?" he panted, straightening himself out.

"You did remember to do the grocery shopping, right?"

* * *

Gajeel panted – again - sweat dripping down his back and hair sticking to the sides of his face – again. "I ain't goin' back out there! If ya forgot something in your apartment yer gonna hafta get in another week!" he growled, reforming his metal hammer arm back into a normal hand.

"Don't worry, I didn't forget anything!" Levy smiled, sorting the groceries into Gajeel's refrigerator. He'd thankfully bought a lot of quick foods, she supposed because he didn't know what kinds of ingredients might go into a proper meal. The two of them would be starving for better food when they got out but she hardly thought either of them would notice for the time being. It was so very hard to think of food when your body was hot, pressed underneath a massive Iron Dragon Slayer.

The moment she confirmed that the outside world was meaningless to them – at least for the time being – Levy felt powerful hands lift her off of her feet, carry her by her underarms into their bedroom, and throw her onto the bed. Her little body bounced several times, struggling to find her footing; but every chance she had to stabilize herself, those hands grabbed and prodded at her, nudging off clothing and biting her skin to leave little red marks all over her body.

Levy wondered if it was such a good idea to promise herself to him for the ENTIRE week; Gajeel would never hurt her (purposely) but he was such a rough, insatiable man that she wasn't sure if she'd be able to walk by the time the iron came off of the door and she was allowed to step outside.

"Gajeel?" Shrimp asked, feeling him crawl on top of her and position himself, "You couldn't hurt me, could you?"

"Not even if I wanted to!"

"Even by accident?"

"... Well... uh..."

"THAT'S NOT VERY REASSURING!"

"Sorry, Shrimp, can't hear ya! Busy!" he grinned, chomping down on her earlobe and officially announcing the beginning of their festivities.

* * *

_Author's Note: _

_I'm sorry that this one is a little shorter; I wasn't sure what to put here and I didn't want to force myself to write something and have it come out badly._

_The next chapter is a little confusing; basically, Chapter 43 is a lemon, but because it's ALL lemon I don't want to upload it here. In its place I'll be uploading an Omake chapter as a fill-in, and I'll link to the lemon (the real Chapter 43) in my profile like I did Chapter 21! _


	43. OMAKE Happy Week

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

_OMAKE – DIFFICULT LOVE_

_This is an Omake titled "Difficult Love." **I wrote this as a replacement for Chapter 43, which is a lemon. If you want to read the original (lemon) Chapter 43, I've linked to it in my profile!**  
_

_This Omake is my 'sequel' to Hiro Mashima's Omake, "Fairy Academy," where all of the characters were at a school called Fairy Academy and got into all sorts of shenanigans. It's really short, and definitely more silly than anything else I've done, but I hope you can enjoy it anyways! _

* * *

"I wonder where our boyfriends are..."

"I think they're still in school!" Levy smiled, rocking back and forth, "They seem to really like their classes this semester."

"I know Natsu does, at least!" Lucy deadpanned with a heavy sigh, "He comes home and tells me all of these interesting things that he learned about combustion and fire, and he tries to demonstrate on things he finds in my dorm room!"

Levy giggled, pressing a hand to her mouth, "You sneak Natsu into the girl's dorm? I could never get Gajeel in there, he's way too big... and he'd never agree to pretending to be a girl."

"Natsu just runs right past the RA, he doesn't care!" she threw her hands into her blonde hair, giving it a tug, "Sometimes I think he's just going to get arrested and I'll never see him again!"

"I hope not! An- oh! There they are now!"

The doorway to their Rec room burst open as the two boys dealt a heavy kick to it, nearly knocking it off of its hinges.

"Natsu!" Lucy screamed, bombarded by an overzealous, over-affectionate boyfriend.

"Gajeel," Levy hopped off of her stool, tilting her head back to look up at him, "Did you have a good day at school?"

"We learned about yah in class today!" Gajeel beamed, reaching into his bag to pull out a book.

"A-... About ME?"

"Yeah!" he opened his book to the correct page and thrust it into her face, pointing at a particular passage, "Right there!"

Levy scrunched her eyes and leaned closer, inspecting the text and mumbling it to herself, 'Back before modern science evolved, it was once believed that there was no particle in the world smaller than an atom; however newer technology tells us that there are actually particles so small that even the size of an atom can't compare.'

"See!?" Gajeel grinned, watching her face.

"..."

"What's that look for?"

"..."

"NOW YA DON'T GOTTA BE LIKE THAT!" Gajeel threw the book aside and dashed away, turning to see a little bluenette on his heels.

"THAT'S NOT FUNNY, GAJEEL! I'M REALLY NOT THAT SMALL! NOW DON'T YOU EVER SAY ANYTHING TO BE LIKE THAT AGAIN! You're a horrible, cruel oaf of a man and a terrible boyfriend!"

"I know ya don't mean that, Shrimp!"

"Stop CALLING ME THAT!"

"You know for such a small person, Levy can run really fast sometimes!" Lucy noted, "And she's pretty loud." She watched the little flash of blue dart around, trying to capture her insensitive boyfriend. When the blonde's own boyfriend failed to comment, though, Lucy frowned, "Natsu? Did you hear me? … Natsu?"

"What is it, Luce?" he asked, focusing his attention on something behind her head.

"What are you doing back there!?" Lucy turned quickly, seeing a little puff of smoke flicker around when she moved her head. "NATSU!?"

"Did you know that hair burns really quickly, Luce?"

"OH MY GOD!"

[This scene has been cut short due to copious amounts of graphic violence of the animated kind.]

* * *

_OMAKE – HOOF IN PAW_

_While writing the previous omake, I got the idea for this one. I decided to add it in here; it's in an Alternate Universe, modern era, so don't get confused! _

* * *

"Natsu!" Lucy gasped, hugging her knees and staring at the screen. She removed one arm from her hold and grabbed the remote, raising the volume by several steps to hear it better.

"What is it, Luce? I was just leaving for work!" Natsu stretched and yawned, scratching the back of his neck with a stick of dynamite. He really shouldn't bring his work home with him but, as he argued, the work of a demolition man never stopped!

"I just turned on the news and saw this; it's the most adorable thing I've ever seen!" Lucy smiled, moving aside and patting the couch for her boyfriend to sit down.

He plopped down, resting his hands on his knees and tapping the dynamite impatiently on the table; "What is it?"

"Just listen!" Lucy raised the remote another few paces, trying to hear it over her complaining lover.

"_As promised," the news reporter started, smiling behind her microphone, "We have an update on the earlier story, currently taking place at the Fairy Tail Zoo. Scientists are baffled over this latest discovery made by one of the zoo's own feeders, Mirajane Strauss. Ms. Strauss, can you explain what's happening here?" _

"_Of course!" Strauss smiled, holding up her own microphone, "Yesterday one of our guests inadvertently allowed one of the deer out of the petting zoo; after a wild goose chase we managed to track it down to the lion's den! We were terrified at first, of course, thinking of our guests and what they might witness, but what actually happened was incredible!" _

The story cut to a scene of the lion's den where a massive, sandy brown lion opened his chops and released a yawn with a sound that vibrated the viewers' ears. Hobbling around him on 4 awkward, thin legs was a little deer, taking joyful leaps and nipping playfully at the lion's back.

After a moment of allowing the deer to nudge at it, the beast raised a paw and swiped for the deer, toppling the little creature over against his belly. He parted his mouth and started licking the deer's nose, nudging his snout against the creature's ears and almost hugging it between its large arms.

The deer's head bucked and nudged back, tilting its head in the direction of the tongue to try and place the licks in the more pleasurable spots. The little legs twitched and kicked, trying to turn itself into a comfortable position against the lion's belly.

When the lion seemed satisfied with the deer's bath, he laid his head down and released several short, loud roars, prompting the deer to lay its head in front of the lion's with its nose just under the lion's chin.

"_For the interest of the viewers, what are the names of the animals?" the reporter asked, turning her attention back to Strauss._

"_The lion's name is Gajeel, and the deer has been named Levy; aren't those great names!?" _

"_They sure are! Zoo experts are still looking into this, trying to decide whether it would be a good idea to allow the deer to remain with the lion. However, for the time being this attraction has become the most popular; guests have been telling us that they are purchasing tickets just to see this!" The reporter concluded with a happy smile. "This is, by far, the most tender moment the zoo has ever seen." _


	44. Finding cures

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

* * *

"Ahhh, sunlight!" Levy ran outside, throwing her arms out and spinning in circles, "It hurts my eyes but it feels so good!" Living by candlelight had been romantic, but now it was time to actually see the real, natural light again.

"Let's get goin' to the guild!" Gajeel tossed away the rest of the scrap metal he'd lined the apartment with; it was his, so he couldn't eat it. Maybe he could sell it to the blacksmith or trade it in for some real nice stuff!

"We should go food shopping first," she smiled, "So we don't forget later on. Oh, Gajeel, I can't WAIT to eat some real food again!" living off of non-perishable items had gotten a little old.

"... We need some peanut butter," he sneered, finding his place at her side and holding a hand on her waist, "I like to put it on-"

"YOU BETTER SAY TOAST!" Levy scolded, daring him to say something else.

"I was gonna say screws, but I like it when ya get dirty on me!"

Levy scoffed, folding her arms over her chest; she knew very well that he wasn't going to say anything LIKE 'toast.' Naughty, dirty dragon. She was almost just as bad as he, encouraging him onward like that!

"We should get back to the guild as quickly as possible, because..." she trailed off, knowing that he could complete it in his head. She wondered who else had succumbed to the spell in the time that they were gone; she wondered if it was selfish of them to have disappeared for a week... but then, there was nothing they could really do until Erza returned. "Our nakama will be needing us!"

"Right!"

* * *

"This is impossible!"

"I don't believe it, she has to be sleeping!"

"What's everyone yelling about?" Levy asked, quickening her pace and throwing open the doors with her little arms. Gajeel pressed against her back as she stopped, screaming out loud and clamping her hands over her mouth.

Natsu clenched his teeth together, holding up Erza's limp body in his grip, "It's all up to the rest of us... we need to do this, for Erza and for everyone else!"

Lucy nodded, wiping her teary eyes with the back of her wrists, "That's right!" She could hardly believe it; she'd hesitated to go after Erza, not wanting to make the scarlet woman believe that they didn't trust in her. Natsu insisted, though, and they didn't get halfway there before finding her on the side of the road, face down in the dirt. Erza couldn't fight against something that she could not see, with or without her magical eye.

"The situation's become desperate," Master's voice broke through the fear and confusion, "It was wrong for us to have relied on any one person' if we are to save our family we should work as a family."

The guild appeared to agree, thrusting their fists into the air and releasing enough battle cries so that even those who had fallen could hear them, however deep their consciousnesses had slipped.

"Gajeel, you found it before so you'll find it again," Makarov stepped over, "And the rest of us will follow."

"Right," Gajeel grabbed Shrimp and hoisted her onto his back – for safe keeping, of course – "Let's go fishin'!"

On the way out the door, a small hand touched Levy's shoulder. "Levy-chan?"

"Y- oh! Lu-chan!" Levy smiled, "Are you... feeling okay?" she wondered if Lucy was guilty – after all, she was the one who convinced Natsu not to go after Erza right away.

"Oh, I'm fine," Lucy smiled, "I was just thinking about you. Are you okay? Are your wounds still hurting you?"

"No... why?"

"Oh, it's just that you're... you know..." walking a little funny.

Levy turned red and brushed off Lucy's hand, shaking her head, "J-... Just fine! Just fine! I'm ok!"

* * *

"Aye! Aye! Aye!" Happy fluttered up and down, spinning in circles over the water. "I smell good fish! I've never smelled it before! It smells sweet and juicy!"

"We can't eat these fish, Happy," Natsu shook his head, for once attempting to reel in his friend's enthusiasm, "We need them."

"And then we eat them!"

"THAT'S RIGHT!" he grinned, pumping his fist. His seriousness was rather short-lived.

"No one's eating any fish until we're sure that we have enough eggs to heal everyone; remember, we need enough for the entire guild, not just the people who've already succumbed to the poison," Levy reminded them, starting to strip down so she could wade into the water. "These kinds of fish like to lay their eggs closer to the shore where the larger fish won't eat them, so make sure you don't step on anything without checking first – they'll probably be attached to rocks so they don't wash on shore or into the ocean, so keep an eye out!"

Following Levy's instructions carefully, several guild members waded into the ocean, dipping themselves under the water and keeping their eyes wide open for the cure to their illness. The rest remained on land, not wanting to muddy the visibility in the water by adding too much splashing or too many bodies to cloud the water. Despite not being in the ocean with the rest of their proclaimed family, no one failed to reach out with their hopes at the very least.

After several hours of careful searching, they'd managed to fish out enough eggs to fill a pitcher that Mirajane had brought with her, carefully guarding it in her arms; should this fall, it could be another season before the fish laid their eggs – by that time it would be too late.

"Do you think if I ate a bunch of fish eggs, the fish would grow right in my belly?" Happy laid back, rubbing his stomach with his little paws and purring happily. It would save him all the trouble of eating fish if he could just grow them right inside of him! But then the flavor would all be lost and that was one of the best parts!

"We're going to have to eat them," Levy turned her nose up, "Even though..." they were a little stinky, and sickeningly clear. The little eggs had black balls in the center of a transparent membrane, protecting it from harm.

"We're going to need to extract that black part," Levy explained, "That part is poisonous; the cure is in the clear membrane. We need to be careful not to consume the actual offspring."

"This is just weird!" Lucy shivered, "What if we make a mistake!?"

"... We can't make mistakes," Levy frowned, inspecting the eggs, "Otherwise, it'll be all over for us."

"Let's take these to Porlyusica," Mirajane cradled the pitcher in her arms, "Before something happens to us. The sooner we get this cure, the better."

* * *

_Author's Note:_

_The next chapter is the last official chapter of this story; after that is the Epilogue which will end it completely! I'll post details about the sequel story when I post the epilogue. _

_The next chapter is more of a fun one; I hope you guys enjoy it - I thought it was something nice to tie the story to a close._


	45. Meet the parents

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima._

_**I AM SUCH A DUNCE.**  
_

_**I uploaded the Chapter 45 in the place of Chapter 44. So go back and read Chapter 44!**  
_

_**I'm so stupid :( I'm sorry. So I guess tomorrow is the last official chapter... I had this whole thing planned out, too. I'm sorry!  
**_

* * *

"Romeo!" Natsu shouted, grabbing the boy from his bed and shaking him wildly back and forth.

Romeo opened one eye, then the other, grinning at Natsu, "I'm fine," he coughed, "Really! But I can't breathe!"

Natsu set the boy down, beaming and patting his head, "Totally fine!?"

"I'm still a little tired... but I'm totally fine."

"Erza!" Levy breathed a sigh of relief, taking the scarlet's woman hand and offering it a pat.

"I am sorry," she opened her eyes, looking around at her nakama, "I failed all of you..."

"No, we failed you," Makarov spoke, standing in the center of the room as Porlyusica finished administering the cure to everyone. "This was never meant to be a job for one person, or two people," he glanced at Levy and Gajeel, "Without your work we would never have been able to overcome this.

"It wasn't all us," Levy shook her head, "We really should be thanking Ultear! Without her magic, Gajeel and I wouldn't have even been able to go back there."

Gajeel looked thoughtful, sitting in the corner with his arms crossed over his chest.

"What are you thinking about?" Lily asked, glancing up at Gajeel. He wished he could have gone on their adventure with them; it sounded fun.

"Hmmm... just things," the dragon grunted, narrowing his eyes as a thought occurred to him. "We should thank Ultear!"

"Gajeel?" Levy questioned, blinking at him. It was so unlike Gajeel to actively volunteer for things like that!

"Now!" he grabbed Shrimp, collecting her into his arms and running with her out of the guild, "We're gonna go thank her RIGHT NOW!"

"PUT ME DOWN!" Levy shrieked. The guild behind them got smaller as hordes of confused members watched them from the window. "WHY NOW!?"

"You want me to what?" Ultear asked, cradling the case of time magic in her arms.

"I knew it," Levy sighed, deadpanning. She knew there had to be some reason that Gajeel wanted to go thank Ultear! 'Thank,' indeed.

"We need ta use the magic again!" he reached into his pocket for a piece of paper he'd scribbled on a few minutes earlier, hiding it from Levy, "Here! I mean, then! We need to go then!"

"But-"

"CAN YA DO IT!?" he grabbed Ultear's shoulders, breathing heavily.

"If I do," she felt obliged given that, because of her actions on Tenrou Island, Gajeel and Levy almost died, "Then will you promise not to make me use this magic for a while?" it did take a lot out of her.

"PROMISE!" the dragon grinned and positioned himself beside Levy, hugging her against his side.

"... Okay..." Ultear handed them the staff, took her own, and recited the words to send them back.

"It's around here somewhere," Gajeel stumbled, tilting his nose up into the air. After he'd thrown up the contents of his stomach, he'd suddenly tugged Levy under his arm and started charging through the forest.

"When are we!? And WHERE?" Levy demanded, not recognizing this place. There were no buildings around, nor any man-made creations at all – it was all dense forest and nature.

"I smell him," Gajeel set Levy down and reached for her hand, tugging her along behind him, "He's right here!"

The two broke through a dense area of bushes and Levy, hair a mess and prickly thorns sticking to her clothes, started to fix herself, "What on earth is wrong wi-"

It was the biggest, shiniest, most terrifyingly beautiful thing she'd ever seen. The rows of teeth glistened when he opened his mouth, growling low in his throat at the two intruders.

"Is that... is that..." Levy whispered, hugging Gajeel's arm.

"Metallicana!" Gajeel grinned, walking towards the Iron Dragon with his girl in tow.

The dragon stayed silent, tilting his head back to offer an annoyed, condescending look down at the two humans on the ground.

"I ain't gonna explain it all, but I'm from the future. Gajeel, years from now after ya left me!" he gripped his fists together, "And I came here cus I have somethin' to say to ya."

"What is that?" the Iron Dragon spoke finally. It was like the sound came out of his mouth, but at the same time it didn't. The sound seemed to come from everywhere all at once. "What do you have to say?"

"... LOOK WHAT I GOT!"

"Huh!?" Levy shrieked as Gajeel grabbed her under her arms, hoisting her above his head.

"SEE!? Ain't it the cutest thing ya ever saw!?"

"Gajeel!"

"SHE'S TINY! And she's warm and she lets me hold'er like this!" he pulled her back against her chest. He squeezed his arms under her chest and started rocking her back and forth, letting her limbs flap in the breeze, flopping all around, "She's smart and nice ta everyone and she can really take a punch, and she's got magic and she likes me and she likes my cat too, and she's got this little bandana on her head and sometimes we match but not all the time, and she sleeps with me and lets me touch her all over the place (and that's my favorite part, ya know! GIHI!), and I do stupid stuff all the time but she doesn't seem to mind!"

"I MIND NOW!" Levy's jaw stiffened, flushing a deep purple color in embarrassment.

"But ya know THAT DON'T EVEN MATTER!" he tilted his head against the side of Levy's face, "Cus I love'er, and I just wanted ya to see that I ain't gonna grow up all alone like I thought I was, and like ya told me I was if I didn't change. I'm different now and I just wanted ta tell ya! Dad!"

* * *

"I can't believe you went there all the way for that!" Levy huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"It was important to me!" the dragon grinned. He wanted to hug and hold her but they were in the middle of the guild, and he didn't like to show affection like that in front of _others_.

"DID YOU REALLY GO BACK!?"

"Huh?" Gajeel lifted his head, watching a flash of pink hair thunder through the guild, aiming for him.

"Someone just told me you went back! To before the dragons left!" Natsu grinned, punching his fist, "What did he say!?"

"Whadya mean? That's none of yer business!"

"What do you mean!? What did Metallicana say about why he left!? Why did the dragons disappear? Where did they go? Did he know he was gonna disappear? Is it something that happens all the time? Does he still love us? DOES HE KNOW IGNEEL!?"

"..."

"WELL!?"

"..."

"Gajeel," Levy whispered, shaking her head, "We promised Ultear..."

"WE'RE GOIN' BACK!" Gajeel grabbed Levy, starting to run back out with her. Damnit, he spent so much time bragging about Levy that he completely forgot to ask all of those important questions!

"BUT... BUT WE PROMISED ULTEEEEEAR!"

* * *

In the end, Ultear wasn't there. She had the feeling that Gajeel might break his promise so she decided to vanish for a little while, taking off with her magic and the rest of her possessions. She had a lot of things to make up for to a lot of people, and she could spend her time doing that while Fairy Tail relished in the lives of its members, all healed.

Some day she assumed she'd have to go back because, with this new power that she found, she knew it would come in handy more so than people realized. They would realize it eventually, though.

In the mean time she was going to leave them alone, and let them enjoy each other; because they did enjoy each other.

Especially a large, brutish Iron Dragon Slayer and his cheerful little mate.


	46. EPILOGUE

_Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters are owned by Hiro Mashima._

_Author's Note: I'm going to put the author's note first this time, that way you don't have to spoil the ending of this story by reading boring author's notes :3  
_

_Today I am uploading my sequel story, "Laugh." It is unlike this story in that it consists of snippets of scenes rather than a continuous plot, and it will be taking over from where this epilogue leaves off. I hope you like this last chapter of my story and that you'll stick with me for "Laugh!" Check out that story for more details on what it is - I won't bog this note down with the dirty details.  
_

_Also, **piranha pk **made some fanart of Chapter 42, aka 'Baby Lily.' I dropped links in my profile!  
_

_Thanks to everyone who read my entire story, reviewed my work, etc. I'm reading a lot of your stories, too, so I'm sure I'll see you all around in one way or another!  
_

* * *

**_EPILOGUE: THE PRETTIEST DADDY_**

_**I got this idea of an interaction between Gajeel and his daughter-to-be. I had to add it into the story as an epilogue; I hope you enjoy!** _

* * *

"Daddy? What's in here?"

They were the tiniest little fingers Gajeel had ever seen; and they were prodding at his bicep, feeling the muscle underneath and trying to figure out how on earth they were so hard.

"Those're muscles, Peanut."

Levy might scold him later for calling her that; his lover had long since gotten used to being called Shrimp, and she hardly noticed that he did it any more – but she didn't want her daughter growing up to be confused, thinking her name was actually Peanut! She supposed, though, that it was better than what Gajeel WANTED to call her. When choosing baby names he'd fought very hard for Crunk, Chomper, or Metalloid. They went with something prettier.

"Muscles?" Lilia pressed her ear against his arm, giving it a little squeeze with her tiny fingertips, "Do they talk?"

"No," he grinned, pulling his arm away from her and holding it up, "Now watch close, Peanut!"

"Ok, daddy!" she plopped herself back down on his lap, straddling one thigh and opening her amazed eyes to look at his arm.

Gajeel gave the bicep his best flex, increasing its size by two times at least, and bulging a vein or two.

He almost went teary-eyed at the look on his little girl's face as she took the softest gasp and spread her mouth open wide, "Wooowwww..."

"Gihi!" he giggled, giving his other bicep a flex for her and alternating between the two.

"DADDY IS THE COOLEST DADDY!" Lilia screamed, grabbing the sides of her face and flopping back, almost toppling right over Gajeel's knees.

Gajeel caught her with one hand, pulling her by the front of her shirt back onto his thighs, which were both about the size of her entire body.

"Mmmhh," Lilia looked thoughtful, reaching her hands out and starting to prod at his abdomen, "Daddy is bumpy all over!"

"Those're muscles, too," he grinned, "I have them all over."

"Daddy...?"

"Ehh?"

"Did you draw on yourself?" her voice got a little softer, starting to touch at the little marks adorning his entire bare torso.

"Nope! Those are scars, Peanut."

"Scars? Do I have scars, too?"

"Nah," he grinned, "Not yet! And not if your mum has anything to say about it," he rubbed the side of his face, wondering what Levy might do if the Peanut got hurt seriously enough to scar. She might kill Gajeel, even if he had nothing to do with it!

She was a very good mother, though, even if she was overprotective sometimes. Then again, Gajeel was overprotective too – over the both of them.

"Daddy?"

"Yeah, Peanut?"

"Can I color them in?"

"Eh!?"

"With my paints?"

"Ehhh..."

Lilia's bottom lip jutted out almost three inches away from her face, wavering up and down as her eyes watered and she gave the tiniest, meekest squeak.

"... Alright, Peanut!"

Gajeel was glad that Levy was off on a mission with her friends for the next few days, because the little Peanut was fixing to make him the prettiest daddy in all of Fiore.


End file.
